I wrote, produced (designed and created logo, marketing, and costumes), and consulted on the 2017 Fringe Festival production of Gravitational Collapse.
Gravitational Collapse was a cerebral sci-fi exploring relationships and the nature of identity. The piece examined how people with different personalities react to a situation in which they cannot remember who they are, using a mysterious memory-wipe device as the McGuffin. The characters judge themselves, the situation, and each other using context clues and assumptions, some of which they discover are misleading. The nature of history, free will, and destiny all come into question.
I wrote this with the perspective that writing sci-fi is writing and envisioning a possible future, with the characters and situations as a way of proposing a thing is possible. I wanted to envision a future wherein the absence of men wasn’t even remarked upon, that women and non-binary people could be in a situation where their relationships aren’t defined by men in the slightest.
I attempted, in my writing, to give the director and actors some opportunity to interpret the characters and events- to imagine the situation and bring their own understanding to the completed piece of art. I wanted a piece where casting choices could create interesting conversations- ie, what if the cast were all of the same race? What if one character was significantly older? What if another one was? How does the actor’s portrayal affect the whole of the story?
Cole Sarar 