CONTINUOUS CITY is a meditation on how contemporary experiences of location and dislocation stretch us to the maximum as our “networked selves” occupy multiple locations. From Shanghai to Los Angeles, Toronto to Mexico City, CONTINUOUS CITY tells the story of a traveling father and his daughter at home tethered and transformed by speed, hypermodernity, and failing cell phones. The characters they interact with pursue their own transnational business, from an internet mogul exploiting networking across the developing world to a nanny who blogs humorous stories about the people and places within her universe. (Read her blog here.)
The show also reaches directly into each city the production visits through a participatory website and on-site filming to create a global and local production. CONTINUOUS CITY is about people far from home, CONTINUOUS CITY is where we live now.
We developed the frame for these components during key residencies at the Krannert Center and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, at the University of California, Berkeley and at The Kitchen in New York.
Conceived by: Marianne Weems, Director
James Gibbs, Dramaturg
Harry Sinclair, Writer
Sound Design & original music composition by Dan Dobson
Video Design by Peter Flaherty
Lighting by Jennifer Tipton
Scenic Concept and Design by James Gibbs, Stewart Laing, and Neal Wilkinson
Performed by:
Moe Angelos … Deb
Rizwan Mirza … J.V.
Caroline O’Neill/Olivia Timothee … Sam
Harry Sinclair … Mike
Produced by Claire Hallereau with The Builders Association
Neal Wilkinson, Production Manager
Joe Silovsky, Technical Design
Tom Korder, Technical Development
Josh Higgason, Touring Technical Director
Chantelle Norton, Costume Designer
Ed Purver, Video Associate
Austin Switser, Video Associate
Laura Mroczkowski, Lighting Associate
Katie Goodwin, Stage Manager & Company Manager
Video footage by:
Harry Sinclair (Mike and additional characters)
James Gibbs (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Tijuana)
Mathieu Borysevicz (Shanghai); Ed Purver (Toronto)
Deb’s Blogs by Moe Angeles
Mirza Family Chats by Nabil Mirza, Rizwan Mirza and Ariba Sultan
Additional Design Concepts by dbox
Additional Dramaturgy by Jessica Chalmers
Consulting by Donna Cox and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications
XUBU Website Design and Development by Nick Reid and Ryan Shaw
Kim Whitener, Executive Producer