Full Description
Two plays along with process essays on the cacophonous world of pop culture, politics, and personal testimony that we call the internet
In March 2020, the New York theater company Fake Friends was pushed off the stage and into the land of the internet. This book marks the first publication of two of their deliciously absurd and toxically serious internet plays, Circle Jerk (the first-ever work in digital theater to be shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama) and This American Wife. Circle Jerk tells the social media-infused tale of gay white supremacists creating an AI-influencer to dominate the global discourse, and This American Wife spins a surrealist web of queer devotion to the stars and performance strategies of reality television; both plays are unapologetically theatrical and digitally native, born out of the exigencies of the pandemic. This collection features an electrifying visual archive as well as individual essays from each company member reflecting on the practical and interpersonal processes of bringing these award-winning plays to life in our ever-more online, political, and personal world.
Contents
THE FAKE FRIENDS GROUP CHAT
An introduction by the company
Michael Breslin, Patrick Foley, Rory Pelsue, Cat Rodríguez, and Ariel Sibert
THE PLAYS
CIRCLE JERK, 2022
Written by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley
Developed in collaboration with Cat Rodríguez (performer),
Ariel Sibert (dramaturg), and Rory Pelsue (director)
Production History
Dramaturgy Notes
THIS AMERICAN WIFE, 2021
Written by Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley
Developed in collaboration with Jakeem Dante Powell
Dramaturgy by Ariel Sibert and Cat Rodríguez
Directed by Rory Pelsue
Production History
Dramaturgy Notes
THE INSTADUMP
Snapshots from three pandemic years of artistic development and production
THE POST-PROCESS POSTS
Wipeout: an extremely online guide to artistic research
Michael Breslin
If the camera is a fake friend, why friend-shaped
Ariel Sibert
Realism and Reality
Rory Pelsue
Alien encounters
Cat Rodríguez
The Coast of Myopia: A Notes App apology
Patrick Foley
Acknowledgments
