Work created under compulsion

Is there a border that you crossed after which your life changed forever? Have you ever been forced to do something against your will? What is your first memory of violence?

Kinetic projections, multimedia theater and live soundscape break apart stories inspired by a soldier, an artist,  a dancer and a queen. In work created under compulsion, Director/Co-Creator Tikka Sears, an Artist Trust Fellowship recipient, offers audiences reflections on these questions in a multimedia production that features movement and projection. The play was written by co-creator Manuel Castro and incorporates video interviews that are put in dialogue with onstage characters. Inspired by artists and individuals throughout history who have been forced to create in order to stay alive, weaving stories from the US/Mexico borderlands, from Persia, from artists who survived the Cambodian genocide and the Nazi Holocaust, and from contemporary soldiers in Iraq who trade their bodies for citizenship, this production disrupts conventional ideas of identity and memory.

Alice Kaderlan of the Seattle P-I calls Sears’ work “a powerful exploration.”  A bold and visually stunning piece, work created under compulsion probes alienation and survival in these personal journeys of struggle, creation and remembering. Spaces of memory, choice and regret are explored by a talented group of actors and soundscape was provided by Seattle musical virtuosos Eyvind Kang and Jessika Kenney. This visually stunning theater piece was selected to appear at the 2007 Northwest New Works festival at On the Boards and the TPS stage at Bumbershoot 2008.

Press:  Seattle PI – 3 pieces stand out at New Works fest
             Audio interview with Jeremy Richards from public radio KUOW(starts at 2:50)