Falling Sideways — Surrender Dorothy

Falling Sideways

We came across a trove of mysterious astronomical research some time ago — materials hoarded by a scientist with crackpot brilliance whose theories initially seemed ludicrous. But the more we dove into his drawings and designs, the more engrossed we became. Until we put one of his theories to the test — and this event series was born.

He claimed to have found a planet that had fled from its siblings and was on an unexpected course, catapulting away from its original elliptical path around its sun. The planets left behind in its solar system soon struggled to stay in their orbits, compensating for the sudden imbalance in their gravitational forces with explosive shifts and ruptures in their mountain ranges.

What he found next was startling: The planets were sending out distinct wavelengths that were both unique and conjoined — a kind of loop, or lasso, which they cast out into the universe until it coincided with the path of the planet, where they would capture it and draw it back into their rein.

For this they needed to pass through a resonating chamber which would not only snare the planet but also offered us the opportunity to listen in on their narrative exquisite corpse — and give us a means to guide the planet through to safety.

In an abandoned train tunnel in Ohio, we tested this theory and were treated to a surprising landscape of auditory wonders. Feeling the presence of the renegade planet brought us to the edge of a cosmos whose invisible spectacles, for just a moment, became tantalizingly and wondrously real.

Conceived, directed, written and composed by: Julia Solis and Christos Pathiakis

Head Apparatifier & Web Designer: Tom Kirsch

Production Coordinator & Lighting Designer: Kim Couchot

Props & Sculptures: Tracy Gilman

Projections: Bryan Parcival

Riggers: John Law, Christopher Beauchamp

Graphics & Artwork: Dorothy Trojanowski

Set Decoration, Props, and Sculptures: Dorothy Melander-Dayton

Trog-in-Chief: Eleanor Lovinsky

Programming & Gamma Rays: Eric Singer

Logistics: Mike Whalen

Designer & Best Man: Eduardo Cunha