Plunge | 2018
The Patio at Spring Arts, 10th and Hamilton Streets
Philadelphia Fringe Festival
FRINGE ARTS: Brian Sanders’ JUNK presents a saucy look at today by way of the future via the new 1960s Palm Springs-esque garden patio at 10th and Hamilton Sts.
Brian Sanders’ JUNK presents Plunge as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, September 7 thru 22. Audiences can sip on period tonics while enjoying cutting edge dance-theater in JUNK’s latest site-specific production at the 1960’s-esque Patio at Spring Arts. Performances are at 10:30p each weekend night of the Festival.
‘Renowned for its thrilling moves’ and unique fusion of aerial choreography and props, JUNK takes the audience on a 50 minute anthropological survey of today’s culture under the newly opened Rail Park in Center City’s Loft District. All while seated lounge-style in an outdoor retro styled patio. The troupe performs overhead atop reclaimed shipping crates, on make-shift “go-go box” boulders, and suspend on high from the rail tracks above.
In Plunge, Sanders takes a biting look at our present day culture – from the future celebrating the glories of mid-century modern life. . . give or take a few decades to account for historic accuracy.
“I needed to invent a couple of words, as we humans do, to make sense of things. My favorites are, sustainablism and fecophogus”, says Sanders. (The company provides definitions on their website so you can study up if you are etymologically inclined.)
Plunge is a mockumentary “presented by the Ministry of Aesthetic Embellishments, founded in 2060” claiming a role in the future as “a leading sustainablism excavation-site dedicated to advancing research, education, and public engagement in anthrotropic artifactuals.” Visitors to the site have the opportunity to get face-to-face with towering rusted relics, meet live scientistorians, and explore a mid-century garden patio filled with artifactuals of the era.
Within the story, there is reference to a technological catastrophe in the near future which has obliterated all of our records of the past. The ministry is in charge of reconstitution our histories through ghost bytes and artifactuals of the past. It is explained that the scientistorians of the ministry “spend their days focusing on critical global issues and their anthrotropic relevance. In the field, scientistorians have traveled as far as the Jenkintown flats . . .These research efforts and many others enable the Ministry to provide accurate, real-time information to the public on anthrotropic scientistories and the ancient rite of sustainablism.”
The Patio at Spring Arts (located at 500 N. 10th Street, Philadelphia PA 19123) is open at 6:00p giving audience members a chance to hang out and grab a beverage prior to the performance which begins at 10:30p on Fridays and Saturdays. The venue is a 1 block walk from the Rail Park Entrance.
