American Standard

Above: Mark Engelhardt, Katy Mixon, and Tyler Moore

After entering the theater and taking their seats, the audience will find a headset and small switch device dubbed a "thought box" that will allow them to enter the inner thoughts of the characters onstage during the play. The manner in which the audience listens to the characters is up to them; they can switch back and forth in real-time, listen to just one character, or simply take the headset off and watch the "play" transpire on stage. No matter how they choose to view it, audience members will get a complete and unique story.

Taking the structure from such classic thrillers such as Deathtrap and Wait Until Dark and the crackerjack dramatic intensity of Glengarry Glen Ross and Twelve Angry Men, American Standard explores three characters who con, steal, and murder their way through the play in the hopes of hiding a deadly secret that will change their lives and the course of American politics.

We live in a world where human beings consume information at an ever-increasing rate of speed. From the thousands of bits of information that fly past the eyes per minute while watching CNN to time spent IM'ing while simultaneously talking on the phone and flipping through a magazine to the immersive interactive world of video games like Grand Theft Auto, the capability of society to comprehend multiple levels of information grows exponentially by the day.

American Standard consciously uses this sociological phenomenon to create a work that will not only appeal to loyal theatergoers--the devices are user-friendly, even for those who might consider themselves technologically challenged--but attract audiences members who have never attended a play.

The piece is also being created with the expressed intention for re-viewability. The play's inherent structure is such that, no matter how many times an audience member watches it, he or she will never get the "complete" experience. However, this structural choice is not a weakness of the piece, but one of its greatest selling tools. The glorious ephemeral nature of the stage is wholly embraced, and each re-viewing will only deepen the play's meaning.