"W.M.D. (just the low points)" is a deconstruction of America’s cultural preoccupations during wartime, that incorporates elements of theatre, dance, film, music and installation art. Structured around the events of a single date -- January 8, 2004 -- the production 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 paid attention to during the Iraq War, contrasted with transpired on the ground in Iraq.

 

January 8, 2004 was a date defined by two events which would frame the trajectory of the United States in the 21st Century. That morning, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. held a press conference to release their final, conclusive report that the Bush administration deliberately lied to mislead the American public about WMDs in Iraq. Later on that night, Donald Trump’s new reality TV show THE APPRENTICE premiered on NBC during prime time to a national audience with massive ratings. In their commentary the next day, American media and arts elites paid more attention to the latter — and not the former. This stood in stark contrast to their reactions to government scandals of decades prior like Watergate, the Pentagon Papers, or Iran-Contra. "W.M.D. (just the low points)" was an attempt to figure out why. What had changed about Americans that we no longer cared about such a scandal? Why did we not pay attention? What were we paying attention to instead, if not the consequences of our government's actions in Iraq? 

From 2005-2009, the Brooklyn-based theatre company, Sponsored By Nobody (helmed by Doyle) 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 Kultuurfaktorij in Antwerpen 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 in Gent.

"W.M.D. ( just the low points)" was conceived, written and directed by 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) the 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. Final rehearsals took place during January-February 2009 at the Monty Kultuurfaktorij in Antwerpen, Belgium. The world premiere was a co-production of the Vooruit Arts Center, who believed 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.”

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