DUST...
DUST…a play about the EVE in all of us
Created by The Ensemble
Christine Young (Director)
Produced by University of San Francisco
March 12 – 16, 2009
An imaginative excavation of the biblical myth of Eve using physical theater and moments of theatrical delight to reveal Eve’s impact on our relationship to learning and knowledge.
Ensemble: Alia Al-Sharif, Lucia Serra Estudillo, David Galvan, Maria Luna Garcia, Robert Gardner, Karmyn Johnson, Meghan Luther, Jasmine Morgan, JJ Peeler, Jenny Reed, Isaac Samuelson, Samantha Sheppard-Gonzales
Artistic Team: Anjali
Vashi (Movement Direction); Eugenie Chan (Dramaturgy); Jamie
Mulligan (Set Design); Gabe Maxson (Lighting Design); Melissa
Castaneda (Costume Design); Pat Moran (Sound Design); Viqui
Peralta (Props Design); Ashley Smiley (Stage Manager); Caitlin
Shindledecker (Asst. Director); Jacklyn Knutsen (ASM); Keriann
Egeland (Costume Assistant)
Created by The Ensemble
Director's Note
DUST…a play about the EVE in all of us is the fruit of an
artistic experiment! Seven weeks prior to staging, a group of 22 people came together to make a play from scratch. We spent the first few weeks exploring the
themes of creation and creativity, discovering how 12 performers can move
together onstage, and asking lots of questions. Where does the spark of life/imagination come from? How do we know what we know? What makes us willing to “think outside the
box”, take risks, and step into the unknown? After a lifetime of learning how to follow the rules, how do we free
ourselves enough from those rules to be truly creative? We used the figure of Eve
and her legendary apple-biting moment as the vehicle for exploring these
questions. Through a process of
improvisation and playful investigation, the ensemble generated the theatrical
material that you will see tonight.
Eve’s legacy is complicated. Her image has been used to excuse hundreds of years of sexism and to market popular TV shows. Eve’s choice to eat forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (what a mouthful!) can be viewed as a destructive act that introduced sin and suffering into the world, or as a creative act that completed God’s plan for creation by giving humans free will. Yet no matter how we interpret Eve’s story, one thing remains clear – creative thinking has consequences. By choosing to bite the apple, Eve transformed the world and her role in it.
We live in a world that is undergoing enormous change. All around us, old systems are breaking down and new ones are trying to be born. How can we as individuals make a meaningful contribution to changing the world for the better? By doing what Eve did. By taking a bite and dealing with the consequences. By leaving the safety of the garden where everything is known, and stepping into the unknown to creatively shape the future. By using the power of our imaginations to make the world new.
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