Experimental adaptation, technology, and performance in Vanya on the Plains

Abstract

ABSTRACTElijah has a hard job. He’s a Content Moderator, coping with the technological divide that separates him from his family. To bridge the gap, he casts them in a production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. But, putting on a play in the Plains proves a strange and difficult endeavor, since Theatre has been long forgotten. Part Chekhovian comedy, and part Absurdist futurism, Vanya on the Plains is a continuation of my work in intertextual, experimental adaptation. The play explores the erosion of embodied existence in relation to growing realms of digital content, evolving communications technologies, and environmental degradation.