On The Boards and "The Forever Project"

Yesterday night I was able to check out a really cool performance, the play "The Forever Project" at the On The Boards theater. This theater is a small venue in Seattle dedicated to show contemporary performances and experimental art, which I love, where you can see brand new ideas and experiments in art. This "play" - if it can be called as such - matches perfectly that. Peggy Piacenza is an artist that uses all her past life experiences (for example, she used to be a stripper before dedicating solely to art) in creating new experiences that go beyond what you normally see in live action theater. The play in question, "The Forever Project", is exactly that. There is no stage nor public seating: instead, you have a small number of swiveling chairs set in a big dark room. There are four huge screens delimiting the set, and the action happens around the spectators, hence why the swiveling chairs. There is a combination of video in the screens with contemporary dance and drama, all building upon each other. There were three actresses (including Peggy herself) who danced at times and in others talked among themselves about the relationship between performing and the public. This was further illustrated by videos where the artists were doing the same exact scenes - but in the streets of Seattle. It was all very cool: there were moments where the actresses were talking less than a meter from me. It was quite a different theater experience and I liked it very much. By the way, the On The Boards theater always has interesting stuff, and I can only recommend checking it out.