cLOUDBANKS
new one-act sci-fi play; virtual
Carnegie Mellon University, May 2020
New Works Coffeehouse
"Over fifty years into the future, memory is digital - at a cost. Faced with mounting data fees, Nancy and her two children, Diana and Emmett, argue over donating Howard, an AI containing their deceased father's memories, to a museum curator. When memory is eternal but space is limited, what do we hold dear? What happens when grief is an emotional, physical, and digital burden? What does it cost to store, lose, forget, move on? How do we make room for the future, and what do we pass down to our children?"
This 30-minute one-act play was performed live in a Zoom Webinar for an audience of 80 people across the country. Originally intended for presentation at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art Capstone exhibition, CLOUDBANKS was adapted for virtual production due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This play is a work of active transformation; born out of curiosity for our imagined futures and given new meaning in a world where connection is coded by isolation. CLOUDBANKS embraces the unknowns of art in the wake of social distancing and explores what happens to our relationships when filtered through a screen.
Written by Joshua Kery
Directed by Sabrina Zanello Jackson
Set Design - Lumi Barron, Shori Sims & Joshua Kery
Costume Design - Hannah Fitzgerald & Joshua Kery
Lighting Design - Sabrina Zanello Jackson
Sound Design - Sabrina Zanello Jackson
Livestream Production - Brian D. Yeskey (CMU Media Services)
Stage Manager & Media Operator - Annika Evens
Ensemble:
NANCY - Jacqui Fashimpaur
EMMETT - Darien Weems
DIANA - Julianna Austin
MAX - Ayda Ozdoganlar
HOWARD - Reece Grover
Photography - All photos are screenshots of recordings captured by production team.
This project was supported in part by funding from the Carnegie Mellon University Frank-Ratchye Fund For Art @ the Frontier and the Residency in Your Room Fellowship.
Performance Recording by Brian D. Yeskey