Jordan Harrison's The Antiquities begins at Playwrights Horizons (a co-production between the Off-Broadway company with Vineyard Theatre and Goodman Theatre) January 11. Opening night is February 4, with performances continuing through February 23. A Chicago run will follow at the Goodman, running May 3-June 1. David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan are co-directing.
The cast for the New York production features Cindy Cheung (Log Cabin) as Woman 3, Marchánt Davis (Good Night, Oscar) as Man 2, Layan Elwazani (The Band’s Visit) as Woman 4, Andrew Garman (The Christians) as Man 3, Aria Shahghasemi (Prayer for the French Republic) as Man 1, Kristen Sieh (The Band’s Visit) as Woman 1, Ryan Spahn (Jordans) as Man 4, Julius Rinzel (A Beautiful Voice) as Boy, and Amelia Workman (American Son) as Woman 2.
The play is set at the Museum of Late Human Antiquities, where the curators are fiercely committed to bringing a lost civilization to life again: What were humans really like? What did they wear, what did they eat, how did they die out?
In an earlier statement playwright Harrison said, "This is a 15 year-long obsession on my part with technology and the way it's changing, and not changing, what it means to be human. For me it’s always important to challenge my tendency to think, ‘digital=bad,’ and with The Antiquities, that’s meant finding a playfulness and a humanness in the way computers would try to understand us after we’re extinct. Some things about us they get very right, and some things they get a little bit wrong. In trying to tell the story of human civilization, the computers make a portrait of themselves, revealing their own preoccupations with things like sex, death, motherhood, and children—all the things that they don't have. My collaboration with David and Caitlin has helped tug me away from my assumptions of progress as bad. The play sits in that tension between embracing progress and fearing it.”
The production also features scenic design by Paul Steinberg, costume design by Brenda Abbandandolo, lighting design by Tyler Micoleau, sound design by Christopher Darbassie, wig and hair design by Leah Loukas, and dramaturgy by Sarah Lunnie with Jeremy Chernick as the SFX consultant. Erin Gioia Albrecht is the stage manager.
Visit PlaywrightsHorizons.org.
