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Created by Cole Lewis, Patrick Blenkarn, Sam FergusonProduced by Guilty by Association
Co-produced by The Elbow Theatre and STUDIO FUNFUG
Under the glow of a flickering screen, a daughter reconstructs her deceased father. Pixel by pixel, contradiction by contradiction. 2021 is a live performance where theatre, AI, and video game storytelling converge, blurring the boundary between human remembrance and machine logic. An audience member steps into the role of Brian, an unhoused veteran reliving his final weeks inside a looping digital hospital: a labyrinth of corridors, bureaucratic dead ends, and fleeting human contact. Guided by his daughter’s narration, fragments of data become playable memory. Each decision glitches reality a little more. How do we provide dignity in death to those we fundamentally disagree with? Part elegy, part experiment, 2021 exposes the tenderness and terror of digital resurrection. It asks not whether machines can think, but whether memory itself is a kind of simulation.
Developed with support from the National Arts Centre of Canada’s National Creation Fund and Theater Mitu
2021 is visiting through the Wirtz Artist in Residence program.
Approximate run time: 90-120 minutes, variable based on audience participation. No intermission
Suggested ages: 14+
Note on Sensitive Content: Includes flashing lights, audience participation, violence, crude language, and references to war, racism, and sexism. Participation and active spectatorship is a central part of 2021.
At The Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Centers, we recognize that sensitivities vary from person to person. If you have questions about the content, age-appropriateness, or stage effects of
a show, e-mail our box office at [email protected] or call 847-491-7282.
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Event venue
Wirtz Theater, Abbott Hall, 710 N. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, United States
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