"Utopian Hotline" brings unique live performance with voicemails to Boston's Museum of Science
A unique theatrical experience is now in performance in an unlikely location: the planetarium at Boston's Museum of Science. "Utopian Hotline" is part telephone hotline, part vinyl record, and part live performance.
In the wake of the pandemic, a member of the Brooklyn-based theater called Theater Mitu decided to put up fliers, asking people to call a number and talk about how they imagine a more perfect future.
Founding Artistic Director of Theater Mitu, Rubén Polendo says, "We sat as a company, looked at the flyer, thought, nobody's going to call, but we just want to hear people have hope, talk about hope. And in fact, hundreds of people called. Hundreds. They called and they told us stories. They put their children on the phone. They sang to us. They prayed for us. They passed it on to other people in their community. And we started amassing this archive of voicemails about hope."
One-of-a-kind theater experience
The voicemails, combined with music and images, created this one-of-a-kind experience.
"We had known about the utopian hotline existing and thought we wanted to bring it to Boston," explains Susan Chinsen, the Associate Director of Programming Engagement at ArtsEmerson. "But where could we put it? It's not a typical theater type of production."
James Monroe, the creative director of strategic programs and the Museum of Science says, "Theatre Mitu are using the space and the technology in ways that I've never seen before done in a Planetarium or in the industry."
"Planetariums are really designed to be a place where a community comes together and sees that which is not visible with the naked eye. And we sit in the awe and the excitement and the inspiration of that," says Polendo. "And that's exactly what Utopian Hotline does."
Four performers lead the audience through the messages left on the hotline, while original music plays and projections appear above.
Monroe says, "This is definitely elevating what live performance in theatre can look like at a science museum and at the Museum of Science."
Chinsen agrees, telling us, "I think it's such a beautiful thing. The idea of people being able to sort of record their thoughts and feelings about something so grand, really in many ways, feels like it makes it real."
And the play is still evolving.
"As folks here in Boston call the hotline, their voicemail also enters into the performance and into the production. So it's a really living piece that really holds the community's thoughts and hopes in mind," Polendo explains. "One of the greatest challenges we have is that when the piece is over, people don't want to leave. They sit there and they stay. And that to us is really special and means the world, that people want to stay in that space of community and in that space of engagement.
"It just is really breathtaking, and it just sort of puts you in a different sense of being," says Chinsen. "And the fact that you're there communally with all these other people really feels like a special opportunity."
You can check out "Utopian Hotline" at the Museum of Science Planetarium through Sunday, May 18th. If you want to participate in the piece call 1-646-694-8050.
