Pig Iron’s Zero Cost House, live from your house
Since 1995, Pig Iron Theatre Company has done more than push the mold of performing arts – they’ve reinvented the mold and made it their own. Now in their 25th year of experimenting, the company has been faced with a new, unprecedented experiment, virtual theater – bringing their shows to the digital stage.
To rise to this occasion, Pig Iron is presenting five performances of Toshiki Okada’s Zero Cost House (for Zoom), a show previously premiered as part of the 2012 Fringe Festival and now reimagined for at-home viewing. The show, a collaborative effort between Japanese playwright Toshiki Okada and Pig Iron, is a semi-autobiographical work that was born within the throes of disaster and struggle following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and Fukushima nuclear meltdown.
The Zoom-tailored version of Zero Cost House premiered this summer, giving a new life to a show that stunned audiences and stuck with them long after its end. Helen Shaw of New York Magazine said about the show, “I think about that show weekly. It haunts me.”
Performances will take place Friday, September 18 at 8pm, Saturday, September 19 at 8pm, Sunday, September 20 at 2pm and 8pm, and Friday, September 25 at 8pm. Following the performance on September 19, there will be an exclusive discussion with writer Toshiki Okada and director Dan Rothenberg. Tickets are $10 per person or $20 per household, in an initiative to encourage “podiences” to replicate the yearned-for feeling of viewing theatre in the company of others.
The remounting of Zero Cost House has made it clear that the limitations of the pandemic will not halt Pig Iron’s creative momentum. “We are a company that looks toward possibilities where there seem to be insurmountable challenges,” Pig Iron’s Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director, Quinn Bauriedel says, “We have been innovating within the field for over two decades, and we are not going to stop now.”
Image courtesy of Pig Iron
What: Toshiki Okada’s Zero Cost House (for Zoom)
When: September 18-20 & 25
Where: Live on Zoom
Cost: $10 per person OR $20 per household