Event

Rustbelt 1984

RUSTBELT: 1984 is the first installation in a series of three plays using the visceral world of the theatre to shake up social consciousness regarding water quality and policy. Not a dry night of statistics, but a satirical tale told through theatre, multi-media, music, and dance with the intent to encourage conversation. RUSTBELT: 1984, Centers around a public access TV dance show that was filmed in the heart of Americas defunct industrial heartland in 1984. When the show's MC Willy Wonder (played by Ashton Lee) begins getting sick from the water, Mayor Alberts (Foster Solomon) struggles to manage the fallout. When the mayor's assistant, Shelia Withers (Donna Marie Miller) rises to the role of an unlike heroine, even the EPA (Susan Gardner) steps in to the fray. Archtypes and anti-heroes wrestle with ideals, policy, community and corruption in this stage reading directed by Carol Piersol. This work hopes to give voice to those in America living with inadequate drinking water, which disrupts a sense of place and shatters communities. Given a voice, recognition could invoke quite a collective pause for artist and audience. We hope to start to create a space for these pauses. Preshow discussion roots the play in the national and personal context of water contamination. More satire post show, when two of Richmond's burlesque starlets led by Miss Melody Magpie donate water inspired performances to transition the environment into a place of conversation and community building with a blush of debauchery.