The Mesa Arts Center always has a fantastic lineup of concerts, plays, musicals, and other events and this year is no exception. They have two great looking upcoming shows look great and you will want to get your tickets while you can. You can get more information and tickets by clicking the links.
Recently the play To Sleep To Dream opened at the Mesa Arts Center. The play is called an “Earplay” by the creator and it is a novel approach to the traditional format of plays. An audience of fewer than 100 is ushered into the theater in groups of 15. We are seated in rows on the stage facing a silent person who turns out to be the writer of the show and our narrator. We are then blindfolded for the nearly 90 minute runtime of the play and have all manner of sounds, voices, and narration coming at us over the course of the show.
The play tells the story of a near future where the earth has become flooded and only one island remains. On this island a great city has risen, but those who dwell within have a life of constant surveillance, monotony, and blandness. This is a world where dreaming and any form of creativity are outlawed and punishment for the most minor infractions is severe. We are introduced to Jack who has a life existing utterly of work, sleep, and no human interaction at all. He is on a treadmill of constant degrading and monotony yet is better off than most as he was recently upgraded to a better status.
The constant computer voice and noises of the world in which he lives brought images of 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Bioshock to mind, and I imaged a very bleak world.
Events play out that Jack is more than a mere cog in a machine and has a greater destiny ahead of him which drives the second half of the play. I do not want to give any spoilers away but based on the displayed artwork we saw after the performance and the question and answer session we had with the creators of the show, it was clear that everyone had a unique experience. One guest asked how they brought in the scent of the ocean and was shocked to learn that there were no scents; it was simply something she imagined from the sounds of the beach and water.
The show will run through March 19th and you may purchase tickets below to this unique and very entertaining show.
