Sea of Common Catastrophe

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Sea of Common Catastrophe

They went down very deep, to where the light of the sun and then the light of the sea stopped, and things were only visible in their own light.  They passed a submerged village, with men and women on horseback turning about a musical carousel.  It was a splendid day, and there were brightly colored flowers on the terraces.  “Here a Sunday sank at about eleven o'clock in the morning,” Mr. Herbert said.  “It must have been some cataclysm.”
— Gabriel García Márquez

Inspired by a passage from Gabriel García Márquez's novella Sea of Lost Time—a town drowns on a Sunday afternoon but persists, submerged, in its daily life, as if the deluge had never occurred—Sea of Common Catastrophe follows the journey of four companions as they wade through a continually changing landscape built upon the fragments of their own displaced communities.

With deep consideration of the profound transformations that swept through New Orleans in the decade after Hurricane Katrina, and of our own roles and responsibilities as artists in the realities of gentrification and displacement, Sea was developed with a devised ensemble process in which visual design elements drive the dramaturgy of the piece: Jeff Becker's sculptural innovation, Courtney Egan's magical video projections, Jeffrey Gunshol's liquid choreography and ArtSpot's physical performance-making style and original music create a dream-world imagining of a community inundated by a flood of change and upheaval.

Performances

Irondale
Brooklyn, NY
June 15-30, 2018

7 Stages Theatre
Atlanta, GA
February 2-12, 2017

University of New Orleans
New Orleans, LA
January 19-28, 2017

Catapult (Prelude)
New Orleans, LA
May 4-8 and 26, 2016

Credits

Conceived, directed and designed by Jeff Becker

with
Kathy Randels
Lisa Moraschi Shattuck
Mahalia Abéo Tibbs
and Jeffrey Gunshol

Choreography by
Jeffrey Gunshol

Lighting Design by
Evan Spigelman

Video Design by
Courtney Egan

Costume Design by
Laura Sirkin-Brown

Music and Sound by
Sean LaRocca

Additional Sound Design by
Technical Director
Jo Nazro

Stage Manager
Becka McLaughlin

Additional Performers
Kehinde Ishangi
Chris Lane

Rebecca Mwase
Andrew Vaught

Video Operation by
Lucien Levi

Additional Tech by
Nathan Lemoine
Rio Shattuck

Press

"Evoke[s] a uniquely original form of theatrical transcendence."
—Jack Wernick, The Theatre Times (2018)

"This is immersion theater at its best."
—Susan Hall, Berkshire Fine Arts (2018)

"Evocative of a certain sort of wistfulness, of peering into memory...a riveting, elegiac modern dance performance."
—TK Hadman, Edge Media (2017)

"A beautiful performance piece that moves the mind and heart."
—Travis Swann Taylor, Wanderlust Atlanta (2017)

"A magically realized vision of New Orleans."
—Will Coviello, The Advocate (2017)

"Water, water everywhere."
—Jim O’Quinn, American Theater (2016)

"The narrative is primarily conveyed through movement."
—Brad Rhines, The Advocate (2016)

Book
Music
Playbill
Playbill
Poster
Sea poster image