Photo Flash: Tiny Dynamite Brings US Premiere of PERFECT BLUE to Christ Church Neighborhood House

Philadelphia Theatre Company Tiny Dynamite is bringing an explosive and inventive piece of theatre to Christ Church Neighborhood House this summer. The company is presenting the US Premiere of G.S. Watson'sPerfect Blue, a play performed by two actors on two continents, connected by a live internet connection. This insightful new work runs July 13-23. Opening Night is Friday, July 14 at 6:30 p.m. Christ Church Neighborhood House is located at 20 N. American Street. Tickets cost $20 for General Admission and $15 for students and seniors.

Tickets and more information are available online at www.tinydynamite.org. The ticket site is: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2930528. All performances are scheduled at 3:00 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. to accommodate the time difference in the United Kingdom.

Perfect Blue is set in the near future, some years after the beginning of The Sixth Great Extinction. Huge bio-tech firms have found a way to replace lost species with genetic reproductions. But now a war rages between nations - a war that targets species in particular regions to destabilize the food chain - weaponizing the planet's ecology for commercial and territorial gain. Carys, a British Scientist working for one of the giant Biotechs in the US, communicates with her husband Michael, also a geneticist in the UK, via a transatlantic link. As their personal relationship deteriorates, so too does the situation in the UK - forcing Carys to make a terrible decision.

In this production, the actors perform in different countries simultaneously: with Harry Smith as Michael, performing from London and projected on to the stage at Christ Church Neighborhood House, where Tiny Dynamite Producing Artistic Director Emma Gibson portrays Carys. They communicate via live-streaming video technology, with both actors performing in real time.

David O'Connor directs Perfect Blue. Jorge Cousineau is the designer. The set design is comprised of multiple screens onto which live footage from the UK will be projected. In the UK, multiple IP cameras will be set up in the venue, giving the actor freedom to walk around the space. The feed will be controlled from the US.

In the 2015-2016 season, Tiny Dynamite developed and co-produced a production called The Lamellar Project in London with UK theatre company Pursued By A Bear, through a TechniCulture residency with the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.The Lamellar Project was conceived for two actors on two different continents who perform simultaneously together--one live for an audience, the other live-streamed and projected onstage from a remote location.

With the support of the TechniCulture residency, Tiny Dynamite developed live-streaming, video, and projection technology for the show, and successfully co-produced a critically praised UK tour in the spring and summer of 2016. That production now comes to the states as Perfect Blue and with a new director and design team.

"I like plays that use technology in performance: projections, video, and special effects. I think these new media are the theatrical languages of the future. They can do for modern audiences what set change machinery, the stage trap door, and the spotlight did for audiences in past centuries: ignite our imagination, bringing spectacle, and wonder to the very human experience of watching another person tell a story onstage," said Gibson.

Major support for Perfect Blue has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Additional support for the production is from The Barra Foundation, The Charlotte Cushman Foundation, The Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, The Philadelphia Cultural Fund, The Wyncote Foundation, and The Puffin Foundation.

Photos by Kate Raines/Plate 3 Photography

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