The inventive members of Happenstance Theater return to Baltimore's Theatre Project with a new devised work, Juxtapose, a Theatrical Shadow Box, running December 4th through 21st.
Conceived and devised by the full company, the piece draws on an eclectic mix of inspirations, including the shadow boxes of artist Joseph Cornell, the films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Jacques Tati, the poetry of T.S. Eliot, and touches of music hall, vaudeville, silent film, circus, and climate science. It imagines a perfectly ordinary yet slightly magical tenement house whose disconnected residents find their lives upended when a shooting star arrives in human form.
The result blends magic, mystery, music, and gentle mayhem into a series of visual reveries, offering audiences a reminder that the ability to laugh at fear and embrace the hope of imagination might save us.
Founding company members Sabrina Selma Mandell and Mark Jaster joined Gavin Witt to reflect on the origins of the collaboration and the big questions it ponders, from mortality and creativity to the small matters of getting through the day.
More information about the company is available at happenstancetheater.com, and show times and tickets can be found at theatreproject.org.
