The Mershon Auditorium is hosting a performance that puts a new twist on modern-day theater.
Caden Manson, founder of Big Art Group and director of “Shelf Life,” developed a concept known as “Real-time Film,” which uses live performance and video simultaneously. Manson used “Real-time Film” to examine the use of image in entertainment and how people experience different layers of reality.
“The main boundary to attack is the idea that theater sucks,” Manson said.
“Shelf Life” is a satirical bombshell targeting mass consumerism and the materialistic mentality which people in modern-day society have become so accustomed to.
“‘Shelf Life’ unapologetically admonishes our mass-market culture — our conditioning since birth, it would seem — to buy, to own, to consume,” said Leonard Jacobs, writer for Backstage Magazine. “It is a gloomily hilarious portrait of our disposable society.”
In the performance, the audience will be witnessing two different things going on simultaneously. At the front of the stage, there will be live-action footage, clippings from magazines and photographs projected onto a panoramic screen via three digital cameras.
“What you’re watching on the screens is made by the actors. You can actually see how the actors behind the screens are making the images,” said Charles Helm, director of performing arts at the Wexner Center.
The show is about a girl who is obsessed with consumer goods.
The cast, led by Vivian Bang, portrays three people living in a pervasively disposable world, who become obsessed with the alluring Frankie. Each person tries to possess and mold her in the form of their own media-induced desires even as she uses them as means to her own consumptive ends. The story unfolds to display the struggle of the characters over the ownership of happiness.
An interesting feature of the performance is one character may not be played by any specific actor.
“Different actors play the same characters. It makes it quite humorous, and also shows how a person’s identity can switch,” Helm said.
The actors of Big Art Group will be taking time to meet with students in the Ohio State Theatre Department to discuss their innovative approach to integrating media imagery with live theater. They will discuss the challenges facing young U.S.-based theater ensembles.
Helm said those who don’t get to meet the actors will still get a glimpse of their personalities during the performance. He said the actors are a young group and the show reflects who the actors are. Also, the show is a black box show, meaning the audience will be seated on risers on the stage with the curtains closed, creating a small, intimate environment.
“It is a theatrical experience. ‘Shelf Life’ is not a typical play. It is theater for those who like movies,” Helm said. “The heart of it is very funny.”
The Big Art Group’s performance opens tonight and will run through Saturday at the Mershon Auditorium. It begins at 8 p.m. every day, and there will be an additional performance Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. Admission is $10 for students and $16 for the general public.
