To all friends and strangers in the Chicago area between now and August 20 – go see Florida Styx, the new play by Caitlin Montanye Parrish being presented by Hypatia Theatre Company. It’s the third play in a loosely-affiliated trilogy (meaning the three plays only really share geography, thematic content, certain semblances of structure and, well, a playwright), and like its predecessors, is sharply written and stylish as hell. In a way, it’s sort of like a Gen-X/Y Southern female twist on Gabriel Garcia Marquez, served straight up with a shot of Southern Comfort. Sort of. The prose crackles, the visuals are striking (and sometimes mildly shocking) and it leaves its audience slightly disturbed but feeling like they’ve seen something noteworthy. (I refrain from saying “something special” because of the Dana Carvey-esque overtones of that phrase, but at the same time, it definitely is something special.)
I’m biased, of course – Caitlin is a friend and a member of my tribe – but even if I didn’t know the playwright, I would have still walked away from that play thinking, Daaaaaaamn. So, yes. Go. Hie thee to the PROP THTR in Chicago. Now.
Storyteller, scholar, consultant. Loving son, husband and father. Kindhearted mischief-maker.
I'm the Director of the Games and Simulation program at Miami University in Ohio, where I am also an Assistant Professor in the College of Creative Arts' Emerging Technology in Business and Design department. I'm also the director of Miami's Worldbuilding and Narrative Design Research Laboratory (WNDRLab). I have a Master's in Comparative Media Studies from MIT and a PhD in Media Arts and Practices from the University of Southern California.
In past lives I've been the lead Narrative Producer for Microsoft Studios and cofounder of its Narrative Design team, working on projects like Hololens, Quantum Break and new IP incubation; in a "future of media" think tank for Microsoft's CXO/CTO and its Chief Software Architect; the Creative Director for the University of Southern California's World Building Media Lab and the Technical Director, Creative Director and a Research Fellow for USC's Annenberg Innovation Lab; a Visiting Assistant Professor at Whittier College and director of its Whittier Other Worlds Laboratory (WOWLab); the Communications Director and a researcher for the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab; a founding member of the Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT (now The Futures of Entertainment); a magazine editor; and a award-winning short film producer. more »
The opinions put forward in this blog are mine alone, and do not reflect the opinions of my employers.
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