Museum of Performance + Design to Present NOTHING IS SACRED?

The MUSEUM OF PERFORMANCE + DESIGN announces the premiere of Nothing is Sacred?, a new absurdist tragicomedy in 6 acts set in present day San Francisco by researcher/ performer/ writer YULA PALUY. The play looks at the stories we tell ourselves and others while living precariously between digital immediacy and distance, between the homeless and the newly rich, between loneliness and love, between what seems right and what seems wrong, between disease and wellness, and, ultimately, between the sacred and the mundane.

Integrating sound, movement, and video art, with theater, live music, and ritualized consumption of food and drink, Nothing is Sacred? suspends expectations about traditional narrative structure while exploring in depth the breaking and making of meaning in our connections to the self, the body, other people, and the transcendent. At times, audience members are invited to become accomplices in this act of meaning-making, blurring the lines between performance and reality and between actors and audience, and offering deeper emotional engagement to both the performers and the spectators.

Directed by YULA PALUY, Nothing is Sacred? involves three collaborators creating video, movement, and sound art (JAMIE LYONS, MURIEL MAFFRE, and DEREK PHILLIPS), two musicians creating live scores (David Ewell and Alexandra Russell), a cast of nine actors/translators performing in 8 different languages (Marcel Barraza, Joe Cha, Renu Cappelli, Ariane Fehrenkamp, Daniella Furman, Ludovica Labruna, Yula Paluy, Abhay Sukumaran, Evelina Szkutnik), and two child voice actors (Marea Ewell and Elijah Paluy).

The play premieres at MP+D on July 16, 2016 and runs for 4 performances through July 23, 2016. All performances start at 8pm, doors open at 7pm; cash bar. Performance duration: 1.5 - 2 hours, no intermission but with breathers between the acts. MP+D is fully accessible. The performance space includes a mix of seating and standing room. Audience beware/rejoice: zero nudity but some sexual content.