SIMULATED CITIES / SIMULATED SYSTEMS
www.jayscheib.com

Trilogy of works for live performance
I. Untitled Mars (This Title May Change);
II. Bellona, Destroyer of Cities;
III. World of Wires
Conceived and Directed by Jay Scheib
Scenic Design by Peter Ksander

SIMULATED CITIES / SIMULATED SYSTEMS is a trilogy of multidisciplinary performance works being developed and produced in residence at the Performance Media Studio at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The three productions, all conceived and directed by Associate Professor Jay Scheib, are “Untitled Mars (This Title May Change),” “Bellona, Destroyer of Cities,” and “World of Wires.” This project for live performance installation is centered on collaborations across disciplinary boundaries—architecture and urban planning, computer science and artificial intelligence, aerospace and astronautics with theater, dance and film.

Part 1: “UNTITLED MARS (THIS TITLE MAY CHANGE)”
World Premiere: Performance Space 122, Fall 2008

An international collaboration between celebrated theater ensemble Pont Mahely of Budapest and a team of research scientists phoning in their performances live via satellite from the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. Sound fake? It’s not. “Untitled Mars” is a mind-bending excursion into an interplanetary future defined by Scheib’s signature multi-media aesthetic. This ground-breaking performance is a Science vs. Fiction Simulation of Real Simulation as performed by Real Scientists in the very Real Utah desert. Rewriting Fiction with Reality, the work caps a year of collaboration with an international team of Space industry visionaries, artists and research scientists and students from MIT.

Part 2: “BELLONA: DESTROYER OF CITIES”
World Premiere: March 2010, The Kitchen, New York, NY

Adapted from one of the best selling science fiction novels of all time, Samuel Delany’s novel “Dhalgren,” “Bellona: Destroyer of Cities” opens in a midwestern city that once held millions. An impossible crime has been committed and the sun looms larger than life. Two moons have appeared in the sky and for some unknown reason, this once illustrious city has been all but forgotten by the world beyond it.

Part 2: “WORLD OF WIRES”

The third and final work models Earth on Earth by borrowing computer science and artificial intelligence to reinterpret Werner Fassbinder’s science fiction television series Welt am Draht for live performance.

"Scheib may be the most acclaimed experimental American director whose work you have never seen."
- Time Out New York

"Top 25 Future Shapers of American Theater"
- American Theater Magazine