OBSTRUCTIONS: There Is No Way To Fix What Is Going Wrong

Presented as part of the OBSTRUCTIONS Series with Progress Lab (Boca del Lupo, Electric Company Theatre, Felix Culpa, Leaky Heaven Circus, Neworld Theatre, The Only Animal, Pi Theatre, Radix Theatre, Rumble Theatre, Theatre Conspiracy, and Theatre Replacement)

April 26 and 27, 2014
Progress Lab 1422 – Vancouver, BC

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 The piece you create must be devoid of nostalgia and historical content and must be set in the present day.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.

Inspired in part by The Five Obstructions by Jørgen Leth and Lars Von Trier, the core artists of each participating company of Progress Lab submitted, 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, spilling the artist’s bag of tricks all over the stage and out of reach.

PHOTOS