Annie Dorsen
The Great Outdoors
1 June @ 20.00
2 June @ 17.00 + 20.00
The Great Outdoors takes us on a sublime journey through inner space in the darkness of a planetarium. A lone performer reads texts culled from internet comments and fed through an algorithm, giving voice and body to the thoughts of countless individuals all tapping away at their keyboards in isolation. As fragments of narrative emerge from the chatter, Dorsen invites us to imagine the internet’s infinite possibilities as a new form of celestial authority, and the comments as the internet’s id—unrestrained and protected by anonymity.
Concept and direction: Annie Dorsen
Starshow design: Annie Dorsen and Ryan Holsopple
Sound and music design: Sébastien Roux
Video programming: Ryan Holsopple
Text programming: Marcel Schwittlick and Miles Thompson
Dramaturg: Onome Ekeh
Technical director: Ruth Waldeyer
Performer: Kaija Matiss
Management and production: Alexandra Rosenberg
The Great Outdoors is a co-production of BIT Teatergarasjen & Bergen International Festival (Bergen, Norway), Crossing the Line Festival/French Institute Alliance Française (New York, NY), and Noorderzon/Grand Theatre Groningen (NL). The Great Outdoors is supported by the Hermès Foundation within the framework of the New Settings Program. The Great Outdoors is created with the support of King’s Fountain; with the support of a 2017 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Awark; developed in part by Live Arts Bard at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College (Annandale on Hudson, NY); and supported by a residency at Abrons Arts Center (New York, NY).