Visionary Futures
UMass Amherst, April 2021







Kyra
Says .... ....

Leanna
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Visionary Futures
Fully digital productions of science fiction theatre for social justice movements.
This piece was the first full production Kyra and Leanna worked on together. All performers were provided with the technology Transcend Streaming recommended. This included webcams, green screens, headphones, and lighting.
Gender Experience TM, by M Sloth Levine, posits a future in which the definition of gender has expanded beyond our current understanding and can be made manifest through new technology. What would you do if there were no limitations on your gender experience?
Unity, by Phaedra Michelle Scott, depicts a future in which the people of an overcrowded, ever-warming Earth have begun to explore new worlds in the hopes of finding a new place for humanity to thrive, even at the expense of alien populations.
Directed and conceived by Josh Glenn-Kayden at UMass Amherst in April 2021, this project took its inspiration from the anthology “Octavia’s Brood,” which explores the connections between radical speculative fiction and movements for social change.
UMass commissioned professional playwrights to each write a 30-minute play of visionary fiction that confronts urgent issues of our time. Each writer had been paired with an activist whose work intersects with the play’s subject matter. These writer/activist teams collaborated to create work that is visionary in its approach while also grounded in contemporary activist thought. The plays, written to be performed digitally, were in conversation with each other and presented three different visions of future worlds.
Visionary Futures Creative Team:
Josh Glenn-Kayden – Conceived/Direction
Tatiana Godfrey – Dramaturgy
Transcend Streaming – Streaming Producer
Chenoa Albertson – Costume Designer
Josh Glenn-Kayden – Sound Designer
Gilbert McCauley – Directing Advisor
Yao Chen – Costume Design Advisor
Amy Altadonna – Sound Design Advisor
Becca Cottrell – Stage Manager
Olivia Darling – Assistant Stage Manager
Sena Yacteen – Assistant Stage Manager
Visionary Futures features the following performers:
Darrow Sherman, Mei MacQuarrie, Carolyn Parker-Fairbain, and Jackie Chylinski.