707 Hazardous Moves
New Paradise Laboratories
September 16-September 18
2021 Fringe Festival
65 mins
$35
FringeArtsMap
A veteran experimentalist returns to performance to expose his nine-year struggle to stage the poem that bedeviled the 20th century.
Whit MacLaughlin has been obsessed with Stéphane Mallarmé’s A Throw of Dice Will Never Abolish Chance since he first read it in 2012. Subsequently, he traveled to France to sit at the feet of philosopher Quentin Meillassoux, invented a new team sport, mounted four related pieces with his company New Paradise Laboratories (one in Turkey), took a bullet, gave up theater, left the country for a third time, and finally, in quarantine with an OCD diagnosis, attempted seven successive versions of the work. 707 Hazardous Moves details his complete defeat, and examines why he still hopes to unfail his failure.
Health & Safety
Proof of vaccination is required to attend this event. For the safety of audiences, artists, staff, and our greater community, you must be fully vaccinated to attend this event. Fully vaccinated means two weeks after your second dose. You will be asked to show proof of vaccination before entering the venue. Accepted forms for proof of vaccination include: a physical vaccine card with your name on it or a digital photo of your vaccine card on a cell phone. Please plan accordingly.
Masks must also be worn for the duration of the performance.
Pricing
$35 general
$15 students/25-and-under
$2 FringeACCESS
Member discounts available
Location
FringeArts
140 N Columbus Blvd (at Race)
Philadelphia, PA 19106
About the Artist
Whit MacLaughlin is the OBIE- and Barrymore Award-winning Artistic Director of New Paradise Laboratories. He has conceived, directed, and designed 23 original performance works with the company since its inception in 1996, including the recent 27, The Adults, and O Monsters. He has directed, written, and performed in over 150 professional theatre works, most created using the techniques of collaborative ensemble-based performance creation. MacLaughlin is also a long-time collaborator with the Arden Theatre in Philadelphia, having directed 24 productions there over the past 20 years, including may of the innovative, multi-generational productions that are a beloved part of the Arden’s work. He has been the lead artist in immersion experiences installed at the Free Library of Philadelphia, Opera Philadelphia, and online, with his ground-breaking internet performance works Fatebook and Extremely Public Displays of Privacy, which have been studied and reviewed, nationally and internationally. He is currently creating an experiential exhibit at the Academy of Natural Science with international writer and experience designer, Janani Balasubramanian.
New Paradise Laboratories is a not-for-profit creative studio that thinks outside of every box it inhabits. Part theatre company, part imaginarium, NPL invents unexpected experiences for audiences and participants, onstage and in the world. NPL began in 1996 as an ensemble theatre company and established a track record of original theatre works, interactive games, internet performance, and experience design. The future of NPL will extend to museum exhibitions, books, computer code, film and video, and ambulatory experiences, to provoke compelling ideas, sudden inspiration, and a sense of awe.
Credits
Based on “A Throw of Dice Will Never Abolish Chance” by Stéphane Mallarmé
Writer/Director: Whit MacLaughlin
Dramaturg: Jessica Rizzo
Speaker: Whit MacLaughlin
Teaching Assistants: Rohan Hejmadi & Cinco Plascensia
Movers: KC Chun & Jo Vito Ramirez
Lighting Designer: Thom Weaver
Composer: Bhob Rainey
NPL Creative Producer: Pete Angevine
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