Waterplay Engages Audiences in a Party and Performance Play
February 05, 2015
ODU REP Theatre will present "Waterplay," a party and performance installation created by associate professors Megan Thompson and Jenifer Alonzo, in collaboration with the dance and theatre programs at Old Dominion University.
The Performance play premieres at the Goode Theatre Feb. 19 and continues through Feb. 28.
"The arts are social," said Alonzo. "Party-goers can take selfies with the cast and put on costumes before they enter the installation - an undersea world populated with humans who evolved to live underwater after a great flood."
For "Waterplay," the lobby of the Goode Theatre, at 46th St. and Monarch Way, will be transformed into a party at the oceanfront complete with live music (Jose Conde on Feb. 19-21 and The Kings of Ukulele on Feb. 26-28), face painters, fair food and a cash bar.
"We invite everyone to enjoy themselves with friends," Alonzo said.
"Waterplay" draws its inspiration from the Greek myth of Pyrrha and Deucalion who are warned by the God Prometheus that Zeus intends to send a great flood to destroy the Earth. Pyrrha and Deucalion provision a chest with all the knowledge that humanity will need after the floods recede.
ODU's production of "Waterplay" adds an additional layer to the myth. Thompson and Alonzo have imagined a world where Pyrrha and Deucalion's people do not die in the flood, but instead evolve to live underwater. Audience members follow the evolving ancient Greeks down a giant staircase from the balcony of the Goode Theatre as they progress from the shallows to the deep.
Along the way audience members can interact with lights, bubbles and sea creatures; relax by the water; and manipulate the environment. A giant mobile created by Norfolk Public Schools fourth-graders and Jim Lyden, set designer and lecturer in the department, complements the staircase along with fanciful creatures swimming through the "water" above the audience.
Meanwhile Pyrrha and Deucalion lose one another. The flood cannot recede until they reunite in the underwater world.
Following their impulse to emphasize the social in the arts, Thomson and Alonzo encourage audience members to take pictures and share their experience via social media. They hope the audience will move fluidly between the party and the installation, spending as much or as little time as they want interacting with the underwater story.
The party and installation runs 90 minutes. Evening performances will have live music, food for sale and a cash bar.
The matinee on Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. will be a special family performance. Children are invited to come as their favorite sea creature, participate in games, have their faces painted and take photos with the cast.
"Waterplay" will be presented Feb. 19-28, on Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for students and $20 for the general public. To purchase tickets, or for more information, visit oduartsix.com or call (757)683-5305.