Providence, Rhode Island, USA is the site of the world premier of  play “10,000 Things” presented by The Wilbury Group through this Halloween weekend. The Wilbury Group is a theater group of collaborative artists that regularly puts on eclectic and current shows by today’s writers, while focusing on acting and “Less is more” in terms of aesthetic. Such a production is “10,000 Things”, directed and written by acclaimed, award-winning  playwright Erik Ehn. Erik has had 60 plays produced worldwide, most of which are abstract, unconventional, and eccentric. “10,000 Things” follows these lines. Shadows are a huge part of the theater production, and includes the age old practice of shadow puppetry to explore ideas of mercy and distraction in the modern world.

“My interest is in populations at risk, or responding to violence or to kinds of brokenness; people farming the extreme edges of spirituality. Those are the kind of situations that demand a play…..I’m very joyful as a writer. The subject matter is difficult, but I have such faith in the ongoing conversation and in the community that builds around social idealism that writing is light for me, even though it’s serious.” ∼Erik Ehn

Actors weave and sing and dance about plastic wrap as the story of alcoholism and lost children unfolds. This experimental play is unique and is definitely a must-see….. “10,000 Things” is showing at The Wilbury Group theater until Saturday, October 29th.

10,000 Things

The Wilbury Group

393 Broad Street

Providence, RI | USA | 02907

Writer/Director:

Erik Ehn

Cast:

Paige Barry, Brien Lang, Ava Mascena, Shannon Hartman, Rudy Sanda, Jeff Hodge, Taliq Tillman, Christine Treglia, Jessica March

Shadow Puppets by Erik Ruin
Set Design by Monica Shinn
Light & Sound Design by Andy Russ
Music by Maya Solovey 
Movement Coordinator Katrina Pavao
Puppetry Consultant David Higgins

Production Manager Kate Kataja
Stage Management by Liz Oakley

Photos by Maggie Hall

Theater Statement:

An exploration of the limits of mercy and extent of distraction in a busy age. How do we care for the things that need tending? How do we wake up our eyes? At the center of the process: text + shadows… shadow puppetry, shadows as design elements, and – shadow as cultural erasure. A multi-part experiment in process-driven theatre, Shadow in Shadow by acclaimed playwright Erik Ehn is an ensemble-based exercise in contemplative theatre that unlike anything else.

Erik Ehn is an American playwright and director known for proposing the Regional Alternative Theatre movement. His work includes The Saint Plays, Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling, Maria Kizito, No Time Like the Present, Wolf at the Door, Tailings, Beginner, Ideas of Good and Evil, and an adaptation of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. He is an artistic associate at San Francisco’s Theatre of Yugen, most recently writing Crazy Horse for them, which combined Noh forms with Native American music and dance. His plays have been produced in San Francisco (Intersection, Thick Description, Yugen), Seattle (Annex, Empty Space), Austin (Frontera), New York (BACA, Whitney Museum), San Diego (Sledgehammer), Chicago (Red Moon), and elsewhere; he has a longstanding collaborative relationship with the Undermain Theater in Dallas. He is co-founder of the Tenderloin Opera Company in San Francisco and Providence and the former dean of theater at CalArts, the California Institute of Arts. Today he is head of playwriting and professor of theatre and performance studies at Brown University.