contact info, press release, images
about artists home	CONTACT INFO For further information about Playing the Rapture, please contact: Robert Allen, director email: hai [at] forger.com PRESS RELEASE Jan. 1, 2008. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. Playing the Rapture is an original performance work that examines American evangelical belief in the Rapture--a moment when every true Christian will suddenly vanish from the earth, leaving the rest of humankind to struggle through a period of extreme tribulation. Playing the Rapture explores the social implications of a belief that we are entering the "end times" described in the book of Revelation. In this era of global warming, the idea that we may have entered the end times of life on earth takes on a new meaning and urgency, as we all wonder what the future has in store for us, and what we can do to change things. Playing the Rapture revolves around two characters who are playing a computer game set in a post-Rapture world. Designed by one of them, the game posits a choice for those who have been left on earth between conversion to Christianity and joining the Antichrist. As the two gamers beta-test this new creation, they engage in an intense struggle over everything from the rules of the game to the problem of belief. In striving to win their apocalyptic showdown, they must also come to terms with how Rapture theology offers hope and a promise of escape while fueling their sense of alienation and despair. In bringing the worlds of religion and computer games into collision, Playing the Rapture raises questions about the assumptions that govern each field. Are games really as trivial as they are often made out to be? Can religion be understood as the world's most serious game? At what point does "just playing" turn into "playing for keeps"? In Playing the Rapture, the audience enters the gamers' imaginary world via large-scale projections within the performance space. As the struggle for dominance goes on, the boundary between the game world and the real world blurs until it no longer becomes possible to tell where one ends and the other begins. The protagonists discover that while they are playing the game, they are also part of the game. The Rapture is a vivid metaphor that illuminates a number of powerful psychological forces at play in America today: the urge to make intractable problems magically go away; the need to be part of a select and privileged group; a diffuse sense of disappointment with life and corresponding yearning for payback; and the desire for a god that can be seen to be actively engaged with human life. PERFORMANCES Playing the Rapture premiered at the Baltimore Theatre Project in March 2008. Performances took place as follows: Wed., March 26, 8 pm [preview] Thurs., March 27, 8 pm Fri., March 28, 8 pm Sat., March 29, 8 pm Sun, March 30, 3 pm [matinee] CREATIVE TEAM Direction: Robert Allen Visual Design: Antoinette LaFarge with Robert Allen Script: Antoinette LaFarge with contributions by John Mellies Performers: John Mellies and Jay Wallace Playing the Rapture has been supported in part by the University Gallery at the University of California, Irvine, as well as by contributions from individual donors. DOWNLOADABLE IMAGES
	600x367 jpeg [56 kb] zipped tiff 8x5" 300dpi [5.4 mb]	large jpeg [848 kb] medium jpeg [36 kb] small jpeg [8 kb] zipped tiff [7.6 mb]