A Corner of the World
by Bridget Carpenter, Julia Cho, Jordan Harrison, Itamar Moses and Chay Yew

The tsunami of last December was the rarest of events, a natural phenomenon for which political factions and antipathetic governments set aside historical differences in order to bring aid to the devastated. For its part, the American response, both federally and socially, seems to offer a view of an ideal world, where blue and red presidents set aside partisan rancor, where racial and ethnic boundaries are blurred for the sake of humanitarian relief. While forces in Iraq scrambled for traction against insurgents, while Democrats recovered from a bitter political defeat, while President Bush fought to set in motion a controversial agenda, the United States and its citizens rallied.

Emigrant Theater seeks to explore this American response.

Inspired by The Playwrights’ Center’s Face Value project and the La Ronde model, we commissioned playwrights Itamar Moses, Chay Yew, Bridget Carpenter, Jordan Harrison and Julia Cho, in that order, to write one scene each of the play. Their instructions? Use at least one character from the scene given to you; don’t use more than two characters from the scene given to you; run with it!

directed by Jessica Finney

designed by Jason Brown

dramaturged by Carrie Ryan

Featuring Sasha Andreev, Katie Leo, Kendyl Joi Watson, Erik Pearson & Lina Wiksten

at The Playwrights’ Center

September 15th – October 1st, 2005