Photo Flash: ARTIFACTS OF CONSEQUENCE At The Wild Project

Electric Pear Productions (Melanie Sylvan, Executive Producer & Ashlin Halfnight, Artistic Director) and Performance Lab 115 (Jeff Clarke & Rebecca Lingafelter, Co-Artistic Directors) will present the world premiere of their latest collaboration, ARTIFACTS OF CONSEQUENCE by Ashlin Halfnight at The Wild Project April 16 - May 2 with opening night set for Tuesday, April, 21.

Halfnight, "A playwright who bears watching" -Village Voice, penned the last Electric Pear and PL115 collaboration, the international hit God's Waiting Room ("Best Play" -FringeNYC 2005, "Tight ensemble acting ... briskly well written and highly entertaining" -The New York Times). Now, two of the most groundbreaking and original companies in New York City team up to take on the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur with Artifacts of Consequence. This collaborative piece, which has been in development for 8 months, takes a theatrical, hilarious, and twisted look at a dystopian American landscape.

Kristjan Thor, who directed EPP's production of The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents ("direction is air-tight...the pacing is perfect." -nytheatre.com), directs the ensemble cast that includes Sara Buffamanti, Tobias Burns, Hanna Cheek (The Pumpkin Pie Show, Hostage Song), Marty Keiser, Rebecca Lingafelter, Jayd McCarty ("Best Ensemble" - Diving Normal) and Amy Newhall.

In a crumbling, burnt-out America, an underwater bunker stores the relics of our everyday lives: Barbie, Moby Dick, Twinkies and bond traders are all preserved in a labyrinthine warehouse, shelved in boxes, awaiting the stabilization of the continent above. One woman is charged with safeguarding our cultural artifacts for the rebuilding of a great society... but the walls are leaking, resources are running out, and her wide-eyed assistant is hell-bent on losing her virginity to the first man she can find.

As the facility nears collapse, it's clear that vast quantities of our legacy will be lost... Artifacts of Consequence asks if that's such a terrible thing.

The design team includes Jennifer de Fouchier (scenic), Kathleen Dobbins (lighting), Amelia Dombrowski (costumes) and Mark Valadez (composer/sound designer).

EPP was named one of nytheatre.com's 2007 "People of the Year" and the "Best Off-Off Broadway Theater" of 2008. The Brooklyn Rail said: "The more interesting [theatrical] international exchanges...seem to be emerging from the grassroots, from low-lying organizations like the Play Company or PS 122-or Electric Pear Productions..."

Actor-driven ensemble PL115 has won Overall Excellence awards for each of its 3 appearances in FringeNYC, including Mourn the Living Hector, of which The New York Times said "Performance Lab 115 ... make[s] devastating points in this beautifully acted, elegantly written drama." Its members were part of the New York Observer's Best Ensemble of 2004 and have gained extensive accolades for their performances in both classical and modern productions in the UK, Italy, Hungary, South Korea and Germany.

Artifacts of Consequence plays Mondays-Saturdays at 8pm at The Wild Project (195 East Third Street, between Avenues A & B). Tickets are $18 and can be purchased by phone 212-352-3101 or online at www.electricpear.org.

Photos by Jeff Clarke

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