By Diana Zhu
On Wednesday night, the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance collaborated with the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University to release the premiere of “[re: CLICK],” an innovative contemporary drama spotlighting five students who struggle with their identity and issues of victimization and survival in the modern digital age.
“[re: CLICK]” was written by Jacqueline Goldfinger, Fall quarter Granada Artist-in Residence at UC Davis.
The performance was co-directed by Margaret Laurena Kemp, associate professor of theatre and dance at UC Davis, and Roger Ellis, assistant professor of theatre at Northwestern University.
“[re: CLICK]” includes participation by students from both universities, rehearsing across four different time zones and three countries, and performed through a special website created by Jackie Fox, a recent graduate of the Master of Fine Arts program in stage design at Northwestern.
In compliance with COVID-19 restrictions, the play was adapted into a digital experience, calling for a very unique audience view.
The link to the performance led to a series of selectable videos and audio of overlapping narratives, visuals and sounds that lasted from around five to 15 minutes each.
This site allows the viewer to follow the characters by selecting various portals on the show’s homepage, which alters the storytelling perspective for each character. For those who did not wish to participate in the sensitive nature of this performance, a link was made available that displayed kittens playing.
“The goal of the website is to offer users an experience while allowing them to make choices for themselves and individualize their experience,” Fox said.
“In live theatre, so much of the experience is controlled for the audience. Much of that still rings true in the virtual landscape except that we can’t control how audiences experience the work, what they choose to click on or how they decide to activate it.”
To say the least, “[re: CLICK]” speaks to the confusing, terrifying nature in which students
attempt to survive.
Free performances of this production take place on Dec. 10 and 12 at 7 p.m. PST, and can be accessed at re-click.ucdavis.edu.
