a bailey vincent company
ACROSS
Spring 2023
BOOK & CHOREOGRAPHY
BAILEY ANNE VINCENT
LIGHTING TECH
ADAM SIPP
PHOTO | VIDEO | DESIGN
JOHN LABARBERA
CHOREOGRAPHY & SUPPORT
BETHANY ALLEY, ERIN WILLIS, SAMANTHA BARRET
CREDITS.
ACROSS is the Company's 9th full-length, original, narrative show and is a dystopian tale of costume and calamity, replete with a 'living' wall, Romeo & Juliet potential, and set to a rousing and rueful Classical-meet-Americana score.
FORMATS
stage | novel | film
RUN TIME
≈120 minutes
NOVEL
FILM
THEMES
love, war, dystopia, redemption
BOOK & RIGHTS
SHOW SYNOPSIS:
Across was created to transport you to a future world, seen through the eyes of teens navigating a post-apocalyptic scene. Just like the Pyramus and Thisbe or Romeo and Juliet, the audience is allowed to feel everything as strongly as they did before age and appeasement jaded perspective. Across won't dip into the entire globe though, rather we will be looking at what they know. Experience "The Separation" through their perspective in a fractured “city”, war-torn children growing amid divided subcultures within a much broader picture we can't yet see.
In this future world, following The Separation, the wall is patrolled by teenagers - aged 15 to 18- who are conscripted to protect their own culture by serving time AS the wall. As the show evolves, you will find that this is very, very dangerous. Additionally as anything that is against a being’s will - especially a young person- the consequences are a simmering undercurrent of unrest.
So it is that after an indeterminant amount of time, the subcultures have shifted. Now able to reinforce their own beliefs in ever secluded vacuums of belief, The Cosmos and The Thorns further foment division by defining their every essence by the social, religious, and economic differences that first began the insidious migration toward opposing sides.
So who are the Cosmos? What makes a Thorn?
In Story: The Cosmos are dark and in the dirt. Collectively they are the hands that prop up the comfort and exclusivity experienced on the other side of the wall. They are self-sufficient but constantly plagued by a feeling of lesser-than. They are perpetually looking up to the stars; the absolute furthest thing from the mud they toil and till. They see a future and a hope in the glinting glimmers of a million years. They see hope and joy and a way to transport themselves from the grit and grime of reality. Colors of the great expanse are mirrored in their every stitch and thread. Star accents reflect and intermingle during gypsy-esque evenings around a fire. They are a people of makeshift, crafting everything they wear and mend; doing their best with the least.
In Dance: They move with a weighted edginess reminiscent of their tough backs and firm jaws; they are angular, heavy, sharp and jubilant.
Are you interested in bringing ACROSS to your company, institution, festival or beyond? ACROSS is a world-building challenge with an incredible, audience grinning, pay-off on the stage. Our artistic team is ready to support you from inception, to costuming, through choreography and into production. Contact us to find out how.
In Story: Representing the haves in this staged twist on sci-fi, The Thorns are roses of the highest echelon. They live white-washed lives in white-washed opulence; each perfectly placed petal a counterpoint to the toiling on the other side of The Wall. They adorn themselves like beautiful space-age royalty, with hierarchies of roses, delicate ivories, glimmers and glows. They know themselves to be better than all other creatures, human or not. They knew it the day the war began, it was reinforced the day the first block of wall was laid, and they are sure of their superiority today more than ever as their technological evolution regains momentum toward a one-sided Singularity.
In Dance: The majority of their movement is balletic and Pointe with a contemporary softness: they are the “classiest” of physical classes, with an ever present longing for something more.