An experiment by David Hudgins, Kevin Kerr, and Jonathon Young

Produced by Electric Company Theatre

Presented by Progress Lab

Special Presentation: Apr 26-27, 2014 - Progress Lab 1422, MST Territories/Vancouver

Spilling the artist's bag of tricks all over the stage and out of reach

Inspired in part by The Five Obstructions by Jørgen Leth and Lars Von Trier, the OBSTRUCTIONS Series saw the core artists of each participating company of Progress Lab submit, under a cold spotlight, to a list of obstructions delivered by a shadowy emcee. The companies were then commanded to create their next production around those limitations. The obstructions for each company were developed in secret by their peers – a custom-designed set of obstacles that prompted each artist to adapt to a new approach to making theatre. Their individual tendencies toward form, place, style, theme, design, period, story have been exposed and obstructed, forcing them to reach for something truly different.

Electric Company Theatre‘s Obstructions piece was created using the following obstructions from the Progress Lab collective:

1. The piece you create must be devoid of nostalgia and historical content and must be set in the present day.
2. You may not use electricity (including electricity derived from battery power) other than the electricity going to the work lights, which may only have two cues associated with them: lights up and lights down.
3. You must present something threatening to the middle class using primary source, verbatim text.