BAM and Théâtre de la Ville (Paris, France) present
The Undertaking
Written and directed by Steve Cosson
The Civilians
In collaboration with Jessica Mitrani
Part of Brooklyn-Paris Exchange and Tandem Paris-New York
For the ancients, it was essential: a journey unto the land of the dead as the only means of retrieving something crucial to life. In The Undertaking, writer-director Steve Cosson and theater company The Civilians (Rimbaud in New York, 2016 Winter/Spring) offer a playful and profound 21st-century take on that underworld excursion. Using transcripts of actual conversations with shamen, morticians, philosophers, and mystics as their script, two actors toe the precipice, inhabiting the twilight between being and non-being, transcendent visions with ayahuasca, flirtations with existential dread, and bouts of cosmic bliss. Inventive video and sound contribute to this engrossing attempt to see the unseeable, moving toward the light while illuminating how to live.
Set and costume design by Marsha Ginsberg
Lighting design by Thomas Dunn
Sound design by Mikhail Fiksel
Projection design by Tal Yarden
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