“O” is the culmination of a five-year journey and collaboration with artist Christopher Konopka and Callie Chapman. This April performance will be a first draft showing, complete with full production elements, and serves as an important step toward making “O” a touring piece to be presented across New England—and beyond.

“O” is a retro-futuristic narrative that weaves together personal, societal, and cosmic perspectives, offering a sharp critique of how media and technology shape our understanding of reality and manipulate our lives. Set in the 1940s, it centers around an augury—a woman who decodes the world through the flight patterns of birds, trying to unlock not only her own existence but the hidden lives of those around her.

Amid the constant influence of emerging technologies and media that confine her ability to effect change, “O” explores the tension between knowledge and understanding, revealing the fragility of human perception when surrounded by systems of control. In an office governed by old systems and mechanical devices, she begins to observe subtle, yet significant, shifts in the birds’ behavior—signs that hint at a deeper truth beneath the surface of her increasingly interconnected world. The performance ultimately uncovers a chilling truth: our obsession with using past data and historical patterns to predict the future blinds us to the present moment, trapping us in an unending cycle of surveillance and manipulation.

Performers: Cassie Wang, Redacted Maxwell, Eliza Malecki, and Amy Burns; Lighting Design: Stephen Petrilli