In 1977, Voyager I and II were launched on their indefinite missions towards the far reaches of space. Each one contained in it a golden record, a kind of time capsule chronicling mankind’s achievements, from the ability to age and date radioactive isotopes to the sounds of Chuck Berry. In 1869, a golden spike was driven into the ground in Utah, commemorating the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad. Both events changed the way that people would view time and distance, both the literal distance between objects in space and the sometimes-intangible distance between people. Cupola Bobber’s show, “The Man Who Pictured Space from His Apartment,” explores these themes through characters who may be just two dudes shooting bull in an apartment, and may very well be the stars above watching them. The show opens on a sparse apartment in Humbolt Park, with cardboard planes forming the floor and ceiling, creating a horizon, an optical illusion and a kind of intricate machine as trap doors and pulleys drop instructions and glasses of Sherry into the men’s hands. It’s a bit hard to follow, but rewarding, with intense and occasionally exhausting physical performances by Stephen Fiehn and Tyler B. Myers. (ELR)
At 1359 N. Maplewood. This production is now closed.
