Cue Zero Theatre Company presents Join/Empathy. This project marks the return of The Cue Zero Laboratory Series. The Lab sees CZT creating new and different sorts of theatre in a more experimental setting, as well as also encompassing their educational wing. Join/Empathy has been workshopped and created through various devised theatre techniques under the direction of Dan Pelletier and Crystal Welch.
The first half of the piece, Join, explores how and why people fall into cults, and why they stay. This human-focused experience presents real techniques and methods used by various groups across the globe to recruit and keep members, as well as the real human experience of being part of groups that author and cult expert Steve Hassan classify as “destructive mind-control organizations.” This play has been created through ensemble improvisation using the principles found in Viewpoints and Theatre of the Oppressed. Join features acts of physical and emotional violence, as well as adult language.
Empathy is a devised piece created by a small group of performers who have been exploring what “Empathy” means and looks like in our daily lives over the past several months. Set in a modern day restaurant, we follow a waiter through their day, from open to close, meeting some interesting customers along the way. The actors have written a show that will make you laugh, cry, and hopefully walk away with a little more empathy toward yourself and others. Empathy contains adult language and references to depression, self hatred, and eating disorders.
These two pieces share a strong connection beyond their own subject matter. In researching cults, conspiracy theories, fringe ideas, Artistic Director Dan Pelletier came across a strong recurring theme: to get someone out of these dangerous groups and lines of thinking, you cannot combat them, you cannot attack them, belittle them or persecute them. When one has their beliefs attacked, we tend to double down rather than question them. It is only when approached by a person expressing a deep empathy, showing emotional support and a genuine attempt to understand why they adopted their radical belief system can one begin to escape. “There’s this wonderful documentary called Behind the Curve that examines the rise of Flat-Earth-Theory in the last 10-15 years,” states Pelletier, “and the differences between cult members and those believing in conspiracy theories is a very thin boarder. Multiple psychologists and social scientists in the documentary, and across every book I’ve read for research during this process, stress that the only way we can help combat these sorts of issues is by trying to show them understanding and empathy. We cannot look at them as ‘less-than’ or ‘uneducated.’ We have to remember they are human beings.”
Join/Empathy runs August 4-6th at the Arts Academy of New Hampshire in Salem. Tickets are $15 per person online or at the door.
New Hampshire Theatre Award Semifinalists
- Outstanding Production
- Recognition of Excellence in Playwriting
- Outstanding Actress – Cassandra Durand
- Outstanding Actor – Brian Dembkoski
- Outstanding Sound Design – Dan Pelletier & Brian Dembkoski