<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4Y7PSl_1H5cA0E000" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4Y7PSl_1H5cA0E000" width="976" height="1301" ><figcaption>Joshua Rex opens “The Edge” with a poetic monologue. (Photo by Raleigh Burleigh for the Daily Press)</figcaption></figure>Audiences have only a handful of opportunities left to catch “The Edge,” Virus Theater’s latest original play which premiered Friday night. The show continues at El Sol Theatre, 406 N. Bullard St., tonight through Wednesday, with 2 p.m. matinees today and Sunday and 7:30 p.m. performances tonight and on Nov. 17-18.This production continues Virus Theater’s decades-long tradition of practicing devised theater, an approach that begins without a script. First, an ensemble is gathered. Then, based on the cast and various exercises in collective imagining, characters and stories emerge. It’s a collaborative process that cast members said brings challenges and many creative rewards.This style of theater-making has been a part of Virus Theater’s DNA since the beginning, back in 1997. Teresa Dahl-Bredine founded the nonprofit theater group shortly after studying theater at college and returning to Silver City, where she grew up. Initially, without a permanent space, the players would ask the owners of empty warehouses to donate use of their buildings. Spotlights were fashioned from headlights, car batteries and coffee cans while Virus built up its technical stock, moving between makeshift stages.In 2015, Virus purchased El Sol Theatre and, “with a lot of generous donations from the community,” Dahl-Bredine said, they renovated the old movie theater, adding a catwalk and stage and other structural features.“It’s amazing to have a full-time space,” Dahl-Bredine said. “All of our actors and participants are volunteers, working other jobs. Having a space that’s permanent cuts out a lot of extra work.”The adventurous spirit of Virus Theater continues today. At least once a year, an original show is devised, in addition to a summer project for elementary-aged kids. Dahl-Bredine likened the process of devised theater to jumping off a cliff — “scary and thrilling.”“The Edge” has been in the works since late August. Initial exercises with the cast involved mostly physical games, building up rapport between actors and an embodied sense of personality. Much later, characters, themes and a cohesive story arc were established. Among the themes: the catastrophic feeling of being isolated from the rest of the world. Later, “the boundaries that we create for ourselves and the ability to reimagine them,” Dahl-Bredine described.“We don’t really know what it’s going to look like until we get close to the end,” she added. “It’s really fun to go into the unknown.”Whereas actors are likely to jump into a traditional play with an established script having seen or read it already, devised theater mines directly from their thoughts and lived experiences to create something wholly unique.“And we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” Dahl-Bredine said. “We try to be a little ridiculous.”With a cast of four, “The Edge” takes audiences on a boat ride that becomes progressively more surreal. Joshua Rex portrays Kim, a mysterious and wild man who seems to know more than he lets on. Josh Nemeth is Duke, a “captain” on a secret mission. Heather Bee and Grace Mumby play a mother-daughter duo, Marigold and Cal, with more baggage than the suitcases they carry to a family wedding.“You are the person I feel least safe with,” Cal callously tells her mother in one moment.“The Edge” is at once poetic and very funny. Philosophical musings are interstitched with clever quips and a measure of slapstick. The balance is engaging, and a handful of musical numbers and movement pieces enhance the strange, dreamlike quality of the story. The chemistry of the cast, the timing of their jokes and more dramatic expressions, is fluid and professional.“I feel so lucky to get a chance to do this in such a small town,” Mumby said, adding that this is her second devised theater production with Virus. “I like how collaborative it is. Every single piece of it is an effort by multiple people and to be able to do that in art is really cool. I think you just get at really interesting and relevant content that matters to the people onstage [and] matters to their neighbors.”At the center of the stage is a beautifully crafted boat. Built by Butch Mauer, it dynamically rocks with the actors’ movements, carrying the characters convincingly into a place unknown. The set is complemented with lighting designed by Douglas Shelton, illuminating large ribbons of fabric with moody red, bright yellow, deep purple and calm blue hues. When the stars come out — “forget-me-nots of the angels,” Marigold calls them, quoting poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow — the canopy above the boat is speckled with constellations. The play is also audio rich, establishing a world within El Sol.“I hope people laugh. I hope they feel connection with other people watching, with the performers, with the crew,” Mumby said. “I hope they feel their humanity.”Running less than an hour, the show costs $10 for adults and $5 for students. Given the nature of devised theater, this particular play is unlikely to emerge again. So now is your chance to purchase a ticket to the mysterious edge — “where the known meets the unknown.”</div></body>

Block Source: THE SILVER CITY DAILY PRESS

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Audiences have only a handful of opportunities left to catch “The Edge,” Virus Theater’s latest original play which premiered Friday night. The show continues at El Sol Theatre, 406 N. Bullard St., tonight through Wednesday, with 2 p.m. matinees today and Sunday and 7:30 p.m. performances tonight and on Nov. 17-18.

On ‘The Edge’ | Virus show takes audiences on dreamlike journey

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Audiences have only a handful of opportunities left to catch “The Edge,” Virus Theater’s latest original play which premiered Friday night. The show contin

On ‘The Edge’ | Virus show takes audiences on dreamlike journey

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