“RECOMMENDED. An authentic representation of our age, and our dubious sources of information, and misinformation, and disinformation…Well worth a look.” – Steven Leigh Morris, Stage Raw
“Touch everything. It’s how you determine its use and how its use will change you, the world, or even the object you touch…“
Through an experience that is both solitary and communal, Super Duper asks where the truth resides in a world that defines itself by manufactured personae. While both observing and personally participating in this journey, the audience experiences the perspectives of various individuals exploring a pivotal and complex relationship they all shared. This immersive piece is an exploration in creating community by exploring our perceptions of community through the process of creating personal connections amongst members of an audience and between audiences and performers within live performance. The framework of the piece is an exploration of the nature of artistic creation and how an audience is an integral and intentional part of the artist’s vision in addition to being the “experiencer” of the work.
Inspired in part by Itaru Sasaki’s Wind Phone, this work marks a new direction for the ensemble as we fuse our collaborative techniques with elements of immersive and interactive performance. Conceived and Developed in Workshop with the ensemble and Directed by Katharine Noon, this piece was originally slated for 2020. In 2020, when the pandemic hit, Ghost Road adapted the work in progress showing of Super Duper that was planned for June 2020 into a virtual as well as interactive experience. Ghost Road presented this virtual Super Duper in June 2020, August 2020, October 2020 and April 2021. After each incarnation, elements were added and the experience was enhanced.
“Seeing this last night—just pure, creative, experimental and successful art—was so uplifting. It was thought provoking and beyond creative. It was accessible, provocative, thoughtful, innovative, and original.”
– 2020 Zoom Work-in-Progress Audience Member
Conceived and Directed by Katharine Noon
Developed in Workshop with the Ghost Road Company
Scenic Design by David Offner
Lighting Design by Brandon Baruch
Sound Design by Cricket Myers
Costume Design by Vicki Conrad
Prop Design by Cate Chapman
Technical Director Aaron Lyon Head Electrician Colin Postly
Stage Management: Sarah Costigan
Intimacy Coordination: Carly DW Bones
Content Notice
This piece includes discussion of death, grief, drug use, and complicated legacies.
This piece is not suitable for anybody under 18.
Gallery Rules of Engagement
- Do not touch or get in the face of any performer.
- Please follow directions when prompted by the docent, assistants, or performers.
- Engage and share at your own level of comfort.
- Masks are optional and masks will be available for anybody who wants them.
- Heads up: you will be in close physical proximity to the actors. Please wear a mask if that makes you more comfortable or if you’re feeling at all unwell.
Featuring
Special Guest Cast Members during the extension: Amelia Comer, Liz Eldridge, Cecille Forsyth Rios, and Tory Smith.
About the Creator
Katharine Noon is the Artistic Director of the Ghost Road Company. Her credits include, The Dry Years (Collaborator/Performer) at The Broadwater in Los Angeles, Super Duper (Conceiver/Director)–Zoom experience, lyricist and co-book writer for Paderewski in Americ–commissioned by the Mickiewicz Institute and presented at the Geffen Playhouse. Asterion (Conceiver/Director) at The Getty Villa, The Grotowski Institute in Poland, and Atwater Village Theatre (AVT). A commission from the Polish Consulate and the Mickiewicz Institute for A Couple of Poor Polish-Speaking Romanians (Director) in Los Angeles. The Bargain and the Butterfly (Conceiver/Director) at South Coast Repertory Theatre and Kommuna Warsawa in Poland. Pantofelnik’s Suitcase at AVT and the Korczak Festival in Poland. Stranger Things (Collaborator/Performer) at the Ko Festival in Amherst and AVT. Home Siege Home, an adaptation of the Oresteia (Conceiver/Director) at NaCl (New York), Arcata Playhouse, Getty Villa, and [Inside] the Ford. She has made numerous trips to Poland with Ghost Road to collaborate with Studium Teatralne and Teatr ZAR. Katharine is on faculty in the Theatre Department at Loyola Marymount University where she teaches performance and directs. She is also the recipient of the Lee Melville Award for contribution to Los Angeles Theatre.
Super Duper was devised in workshop by Christine Breihan, Ronnie Clark, Adam Dlugolecki, Ray Ford, Kim Glann, John Guerra, Jen Kays, Cricket Myers, Katharine Noon, Mark Seldis, and Brian Weir.
Super Duper was generously supported in part by the City of LA Department of Cultural Affairs and the LA County Department of Arts and Culture
*The Los Angeles Theatre Center is a facility of the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department and operated by the Latino Theater Company.