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" W.M.D. (just the low points) "

Conceived, Written, and Directed by Kevin Doyle
The Game Is Up! Festival at Vooruit Arts Centre
 - *world premiere* - March 4-5, 2009 - Gent, Belgium

Created by SPONSORED BY NOBODY
Featuring actors: Josh Edelmann, Scott Miller, Sean OHagan, Hannah Louise Poston, Mokhallad Rasem, Sarah Stephens & Jessa Wildemeersch
Film by Kevin Doyle & Garret Savage
Video & Sound Design by Kevin Doyle
Choreography by Dan Safer & The Ensemble
With photographs & original writing text by Mokhallad Rasem

 

" W.M.D. (just the low points) "

W.M.D. (just the low points) is a deconstruction of America’s cultural preoccupations that incorporates elements of theatre, dance, film, music and installation art. Structured around the events of a single date -- January 8, 2004 -- Sponsored By Nobody employs found-texts to investigate Americans’ relationship with their media during wartime. This wholesale deconstruction of America’s preoccupations is juxtaposed with an Iraqi perspective from the same date. The collision of these dual perspectives allows audiences to experience what Americans pay attention to, contrasted with what actually transpires in Iraq.

From 2005-2009, Sponsored By Nobody worked to develop W.M.D. with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Flemish Community, The Puffin Foundation, Chashama, the Ontological-Hysteric Incubator, BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, the Consulate General of Belgium in New York, and Soho Think Tank’s ICE FACTORY ’08 Festival at the Ohio Theatre. Sponsored By Nobody was in residence at The Monty Art Centre (Antwerp) during February 2009 to develop the final phase of W.M.D. prior to its world premiere on March 4-5, 2009 at the Vooruit Arts Centre.

W.M.D. ( just the low points ) was conceived, written and directed by artistic director, Kevin Doyle. The play’s structure is based upon two unique yet distinct sources: 1) The Wooster Group’s 1983 performance “LSD... just the high points...” and 2) a report from the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace released on January 8, 2004 entitled, “W.M.D. in Iraq: Evidence and Implications.” The production featured an immersive and intricate system of video design and sound design created by Kevin Doyle. This video/audio system contained over several hundred individual cues and required three different board operators to realize. The actors would react and compose live each evening -- leading some sections to change and variate during each performance.

The world premiere engagement was supported by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation through USArtists International with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and in part with funds from the Strategic Opportunity Stipend (SOS) Program through the New York Foundation for the Arts, administered on Long Island by the East End Arts Council. Sponsored By Nobody was honored to be in working in Belgium on this critical American-Iraqi dialogue. The world premiere was a co-production of the Vooruit Arts Center and believe it serves as a fitting collaboration to present at an international arts festival with the relevant theme -- The Game Is Up! - “How to Save the World in Ten Days.”

 


Photos are from the world premiere production at The Game Is Up! - “How to Save the World in 10 Days” - an international arts festival held at the Vooruit Arts Centre in Ghent, Belgium. The world premiere tour featured actors Scott Miller, Josh Edelmann, Hannah Louise Poston, Sean O’Hagan, Sarah Stephens, Mokhallad Rasem, and Jessa Wildemeersch.
 

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