The IU Theatre and Dance At First Sight New Work Festival is back for an exciting twelfth year featuring a world premiere musical as its showcase production with book, music, and lyrics by third year M.F.A. playwriting candidate David Davila and direction by third year M.F.A. directing candidate Lauren Diesch. Vox-Pop! a Post-Democratic Musical, takes us ten-thousand years into the future to find a group of rebel troubadours surrounded on all sides by the deadly forces of an oppressive regime. In their last few moments of freedom they have only one chance left to pass along the tale of “Vox Populi,” a sacred secret that tells of the rise and fall of a great mythical society. Can they pass along the legend before they're captured, and save future democracies from corruption? Or, is there no such thing as democracy without corruption?
Vox Pop! a Post-Democratic Musical will be presented at Indiana University’s Ruth N. Halls Theater from February 9th-17th with music direction by fourth year piano performance student Erik Wakar, choreography by fourth year contemporary dance student Aerin Webber, and orchestrations by third year composition student Em Singleton. Per librettist/composer Davila, “Vox Pop is a study on Tytler’s theory of the cycle of democratic societies from bondage to liberty and eventually back into bondage. Vox Pop asks its audience to ponder the paradoxical idea that when people have the right to vote they have a tendency to inevitably vote away their rights.”
Vox Pop! has a set design by third year M.F.A. candidate Maggie Jackson, costume design by visiting assistant professor Katie Cowan Sickmeier, lighting design by second-year M.F.A candidate Nicholas Gwin, sound design by Professor Andrew Hopson, property design by first year M.F.A. candidate Ash Cossey, dramaturgy by Assistant Professor Sarah Johnson, and fight choreography by fourth year student Sierra Shelton.
The ensemble cast of Troubadours includes Ryan Andrews (M.F.A Acting Candidate), Erica Angilletta, Isabel Barredo, Renee Carter, Ben Chalex, Leah Corcoran, Chandler Deppert, Gracie Harrison, Jillian Hurley, Seth Jacobsen, Nate Koss, Annie Libs (Dance Captain), Aubrey Rose Mitchell, Catherine O’Connor, Isabel Rodriguez, Emma Shapiro, Sierra Shelton, Nikki Stawski, Claire Summers, and Peter Valentino. The cast is led by fourth-year stage manager Madeline Tagua-Horne.
Filling out the creative team are M.F.A. candidates Elliott Carnell (Production Manager), K’Nyia Bumpers (TD), Ava Francisco (Asst. Costume Design), Jacob Goldberger (Asst. Lighting Design), and undergraduates Luna DeCastro (AD), Sadie Maw (ASM), Riley Paulin (ASM), and Molly Lenig (PA), with music supervision by Professor Ray Fellman and violence & fight supervision by Assistant Professor Leraldo Anzaldua.
David Davila is a writer, performer, and comedian from the border of South Texas where the wall’s been standing since the Bush administration. The winner of the National New Play Network Smith Prize for Political Theatre and the New American Voices National Playwriting award, his work questions systems of power and centers the stories of Queer and Latinx people living in the Americas ranging from plays, musicals, and poetry to television, sketch, and stand-up comedy.
The Twelfth Annual At First Sight New Work Festival also features works by undergraduate playwrights and songwriters. For a full schedule, please visit our At First Sight Webpage.
The College of Arts