Perpich Arts High School Theater Ensemble presents “Love & Information”

October 20, 2021

Perpich Arts High School Theater Ensemble performed a compilation of selected scenes from Caryl Churchill’s play Love & Information this week. Each scene ranged from less than a minute in length to a few minutes long.

Clara Buchner (Visual Arts 2022) was a cast member. Clara said, “Love & Information was such a rewarding show to be part of. As a new senior at Perpich, I knew it would be different from anything I’d done no matter what, but the show really surprised me in how unique it was. I had never really had this much creative control over a project before – it was totally up to us to develop our scenes, stories, and characters. As a learning experience, it really made me conscious of the choices I was making as an actress. I’m grateful I was able to jump into this new environment in such a fun way!”

Bryce Riesner (Theater 2022) was also a cast member. Bryce said, “A futurist play about seizing the moment, captured by an excellent director! The cast was so high energy and comfortable, leading to great chemistry and lots of laughs!”

Nadia Yliniemi Hensel (Musical Theater 2023) said, “Love & Information was a truly wonderful experience, and ended up being the most intriguing production I’ve ever been a part of. The nature of the show allowed us to have creative control of a piece and challenged us all into becoming comfortable with choices. Our involvement in developing context and stories to produce this show was unique, and was something I hadn’t really experienced in this capacity before. This show was able to push me in ways that I hadn’t been, and I’m grateful for it. Because of this, along with being able to collaborate with my fellow cast members, I saw growth in myself as an actress. The creation of the show turned out to be just as fun and rewarding as the performance itself, which was absolutely amazing. I’m so thrilled that my first show at Perpich was such a great introduction to what I know will be more thrilling productions and experiences!”

Love & Information allows the director and production team to take and create a version of the play that they want to in all of the varying options and approaches Churchill’s play allows. Nothing is specific in terms of casting or gender within the show. Within the play are over 100 characters, however none of the characters are named and are double cast. The play asks the production team and audiences to consider how meaning is constructed and to participate in the process of creating. Tory Peterson, Theater Instructor, applied elements of Greg Allen’s Neo-futurist theater to this production. The show is a kaleidoscopic play of short scenes addressing issues about knowledge and communication and our capacity for love. Few plays offer such limitless possibilities: scenes with no descriptions, characters with no names, lines with no punctuation.

Congratulations to all the artists and to their instructor for a great performance!