Welcome to Nowhere (bullet hole road)

“A captivating, hypnotic and mesmerizing work of art, easily one of the best plays I’ve seen this year.”
NYTheater.com

“A very beautiful show of rare visual and poetic power.”
Les Inrockuptibles

“Equal parts installation and surreal montage.”
New York Magazine

Part road movie, part fractured memory, part love story… Welcome to Nowhere (bullet hole road) is a hybrid of theater and cinema that explores the violence and sexuality found at the heart of the American Road Movie.

During the performance, a constant stream of video is projected above the cast. In scenes of prolonged stillness, silence and impassivity, doppelgängers of the characters we meet onstage navigate a hyper-real cinematic landscape as if lost in a dream. These parallel narratives echo, reflect and refract each moment of the play.

The live performers’ softly spoken words are amplified by microphones that frame the claustrophobic, boxlike structure that surrounds them. Referencing filmic styles of performance, underplayed and restrained, they tell the story of a man who is haunted by his past, drifting across America.

This continual juxtaposition of stage and cinema is one of complement, complication, and contradiction, suggesting multiple ways to interpret relationships between characters and to disentangle perpetually shifting narrative fragments.

Welcome to Nowhere is currently available for touring, contact:
kenneth@temporarydistortion.com

2011

SPAC World Theatre Festival (Shizuoka, Japan)*
*special screening

2010

Trafó (Budapest, Hungary)
Théâtre Garonne (Toulouse, France)
EXIT Festival, Maison des Arts de Créteil (Paris, France)
VIA Festival International (Maubeuge, France)

2009

Salzburg Festival, Young Directors Project (Salzburg, Austria)
TEMPS D’IMAGES, Usine-C (Montreal, Canada)
COIL Festival, Performance Space 122 (New York, NY)

2008

Mois Multi Festival (Quebec City, Canada)
EXIT Festival, Maison des Arts de Créteil (Paris, France)
VIA Festival International (Maubeuge, France)
Performance Space 122 (New York, NY)

2007

The Chocolate Factory (New York, NY) world-premiere
Ontological-Hysteric Theater (New York, NY)

CREDITS

Co-creators: Kenneth Collins & William Cusick
Direction, Text, Set & Lighting Design by Kenneth Collins
Video Design & Direction by William Cusick
Music & Sound by John Sully
Costumes by TaraFawn Marek

Performers: Nick Bixby, Stacey Collins, Brian Greer, Lorraine Mattox with a video cameo by: Stephanie Silver and Jessica Grace Pagan. Original Cast: Ben Beckley, Jessica Grace Pagan. Motion Graphics: Jon Weiss. Assistant Director: Christine Vartoughian. Technical Assistants: Joe Cantalupo and Andrew Scoville.

This production premiered at The Chocolate Factory, as part of its Visiting Artist Programming.