Dog Days
a New Media Theater Performance
performed at the University of Illinois Chicago, Art and Architecture Building, 929
W. Harrison Street, Chicago, IL
March 18 & March 19

Dog Days is set on the edges of human intersection: where communication breaks down. Performers interact by way of a limited set of phrases, stuttered dialogue and indecipherable utterances. It is constructed of references to popular language, including the line, “this is not a game,” among others, from 12 Angry Men, multiple lines from Scanners and Silent Hill, as well as a collapsing interrogation based upon the interrogation scenes of Saw IV. The result is a temporary structure that skims the surface of the chaos that erupts as language breaks down. The focus of Dog Days is intersubjectivity: the common sense, or that sense that is common to a set of people, that is the basis of communication. Dialogue randomized by iPod shuffles is repeated by performers as they synch their movements to the interruptions. A Wiimote from the Wii gaming system captures data from the actor's movements and relays it to a projected video control system. The performance questions communication beyond transfer of existing information even as the need to speak is the driving force behind the piece. It also investigates systems of control and the relation of live, human-based theater to mass media. The performance is a collaboration between UIC's Electronic Visualization graduate program and the Department of Performing Arts. Trowbridge worked with Clinical Assistant Professor Sharon Göpfert's "Movement for Stage III" students to develop Dog Days.

Performers: Jenna Anast, Phil Biedron, Chris Borek, Evan F. Caccioppoli, Clarissa Cruickshank, and Jessica A. Roach

Video documentation by Alejandro Borsani