OTHER THAN WE
By Karen Malpede
Poster by Luba Lukova
Simultaneously unsettling, surreal and hopeful . . . a post-apocalyptic scenario in which survivors have a chance to remake the world . . . a grand vision, born of catastrophe, but with the possibility of triumph . . . Albert Einstein is credited with saying that great opportunities lie in the midst of calamity. Award-winning playwright Karen Malpede agrees.
—Eleanor Bader, The Indypendent
A utopian vision for a reconfigured race that will be “Other Than We” – hybrid creatures, human/non-human that will adapt and sustain themselves in the treacherous territory outside of The Dome. Malpede uses image-rich language and striking stage pictures to transmit an urgent call for global unity, imagination, transformation, and action.
—Cindy Rosenthal, The Theatre Times
Witty and clever, the script does not attempt to draw a complete picture of this dystopian reality, but rather paints broad strokes of gloom and doom, leaving spectators to fill in the blanks with their imagination . . . We want to believe that mending our species is indeed possible . . . Can the quartet of fugitives accomplish their outlandish goal?
—Lena Zeldovitch, Other Than We: The Making of Post Homo Sapiens, Woman Around Town
The characters use language in an interesting way, almost talking as one at times, like a hive mind themselves, furthering along a common thought process. But the language they use is slim, impoverished, like their environment . . . When Michelle gets outside and discovers the wild edibles seeded by Tanaka, she names them in rush of pleasure like a sudden bubbling brook.
— Jo Mispel, Motherhood Later
From the Theater Three Collaborative production of Other Than We at La MaMa Etc. Photographs © Beatriz Schiller 2020. Featuring Lisa Birnbaum, Emily Fury Daly, Tommie J. Moore, and George Bartenieff. Set design by Donald Eastman. Costume design by Sally Ann Parsons and Carisa Kelly. Lighting design by Tony Giovannetti, with additional lighting by Miriam Crowe. Music and sound design by Arthur Rosen. Movement by Beth Graczyk.
It is intense to see birth reenacted on stage, the animal reality of it, the fear and overwhelming joy. — Jo Mispel, Motherhood Later
Bartenieff morphed before our eyes from Opa into Owl. An unforgettable image – both startling and provocative, which continues to resonate, as do the creative and terrifying possibilities evoked by Other Than We. —Cindy Rosenthal, The Theatre Times
Score by Arthur Rosen. Lyrics by Karen Malpede. Sung by Lisa Birnbaum, Emily Fury Daly, and Noah Pyzik. Photographs © Beatriz Schiller 2020.
About Karen Malpede
Drawing by Biba Kayewich
Her characters are strong & fascinating, her contexts brilliant & horrifying, and her tone always warm & in the end loving.
—Andrew Solomon, past president of PEN American Center
One of America’s more prominent political playwrights . . . These plays seek to bring us to our senses, intellectually, morally, and socially. —Marvin Carlson, Sidney E. Cohn Distinguished Professor of Theatre, Comparative Literature, and Middle Eastern Studies, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York
Karen Malpede is the author/director of 20 plays and co-founder with actor/producer George Bartenieff of Theater Three Collaborative, a thirty-three-year-old, Obie winning New York-based theater company that develops and premieres her poetic language, social justice plays.
