"Operating as a practical philosophy of mind, PPL’s new operetta draws on social research and stages live experiments, pitching AI-processed perversions of German avant-garde political theatre alongside expressionist debates as to whether to give sanctuary to the souls of the barbus L catfish (a type of carp), who both perished in the dissection practices of Büchner and Freud and currently clog the watersheds of North America. Mental Representation is no more a way of nature than plastic is a perfect food, and anyone who loves consciousness should be ready to perish for it."
July 12, 13, 14, 14 during the final ICE FACTORY at the New Ohio Theatre, 2023
Conceived/written/directed by Esther Neff with Noah Ortega and 3dwardsharp, performed with Thea Little, Jessica Bathurst, Irina Virina, and Mia Destiny
TRAILER
DOCUMENTATION VIDEO (excerpts)
Research for On the Cranial Nerves of Barbarians II: A Carp Sanctuary conducted as part of Esther Neff's experimental philosophy/social psychology project STUDY (2023-ongoing) VIDEO DOCUMENTATION
On the Cranial Nerves of Barbarians II: A Carp Sanctuary is the second in a trilogy of social operettas ("operas of operations"), the first premiered in 2008 at Dixon Place in NYC