Occupy movement inspires interactive Glendon production

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Theatre Glendon theatre students are pushing the boundaries of audience interaction in their upcoming  production,  Move.(me).ant.: The Marat/Sade Occupied, opening Feb. 28.

Inspired by the Occupy movement and adapted from Peter Weiss’ Marat/Sade by student Dan Pelletier, this play explores class struggle and questions the nature of revolution. Directed by Glendon theatre instructor and award-winning director Aleksandar Lukac, it will take its audiences deep into the struggles of the 99 per cent.

Here’s the unusual bit. Every performance will be streamed live on the Internet. And – a very big and – viewers will be invited to send comments Move prduction postervia Twitter and Facebook about the production. Those comments will be projected in real time onto the tent city set, raw and uncensored, and the student actors will answer them on stage during the performance.

“This hasn’t been done before that I know of,” says Lukac. Known for mounting political theatre, especially in his native Serbia, Lukac has alerted Toronto theatre companies about this experiment so they can witness what happens. The tweets and Facebook messages “will be a distraction or a help. Once we open the gate anything can pass through. It will show who’s watching, anyway.”

The play runs Feb. 28 through March 3 at Theatre Glendon, Glendon campus, at 7pm. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students. Call the box office for tickets: 416-487-6822.