Studio Series: Presumed

Created and Directed by Yuge Ma

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was an international passenger flight scheduled to fly from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. On March 8, 2014, after about 39 minutes in the air, the plane and 239 people on board disappeared from radar. 

A group of performers stand on stage, declaring to the audience that they will solve the world’s problems tonight. In the next hour, they slip in and out of various characters from found texts and original material, hoping to make sense of what they do and how they move. As they take up the task of bringing the absent and disappearing ones into co-presence with the audience and themselves, they start to doubt if they are truly anything or anyone other than some theatrical metaphors. More importantly, they start to doubt if the world’s problems are really their concerns. After all, they are already presumed dead. 

This is a performance about radical hope and encounter. It’s about feeling and moving with and through the absent bodies.

This performance contains mature language and content, including nudity.

Performance

Friday, February 21 at 7:30 p.m.

F. Loren Winship Drama Building
Room 2.180