"A sci-fi fable, The Motion, is a heated debate on animal testing that slips down a kaleidoscopic rabbit hole where the audience equipped with voting cards becomes an accomplice. Shotgun Players' Artistic Director Patrick Dooley directs the world premiere from the Bay Area playwright Christopher Chen, an Obie Award winner. Shotgun Players The Motion, starts Sept. 13, Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave. Tickets online or at (510) 841-6500 ext. 303. Pay-what-you-can tickets and special pricing available."
"Animal testing has been a hot-button issue for decades. Proponents say testing on animals has saved lives with the development of vaccines, cancer treatments and surgical techniques. Critics counter that animal testing is cruel, and often unnecessary, citing the suffering inflicted on lab animals subjected to confinement, pain and euthanasia, as a moral failure. Playwright Christopher Chen. Credit: David Boyll Chen sets up The Motion as an Oxford-style debate show, called Intelligence Cubed."
"The debaters for and against a motion to ban animal testing suddenly fall into a surreal psychological experiment where they must come to a unanimous decision in order to be released. Life choices and romances arise that make the debate all too real, with the fate of two lovers hanging in the balance in their new reality. The audience takes part in the experiment as it happens on stage. By voting on key moments, theatergoers become participants in the ethical labyrinth."
The Motion stages an Oxford-style debate on banning animal testing that morphs into a surreal psychological experiment requiring a unanimous decision for release. Performers argue for and against animal testing while life choices and romantic stakes emerge, placing the fate of two lovers in jeopardy. Audience members receive voting cards and participate by voting on pivotal moments, becoming active participants in the ethical experiment. The production blends clever comedy, sharp dialogue, and surreal science fiction to produce a fractal pattern of moral dilemma. The play resists binary positions and foregrounds complex gray areas of animal welfare, science, and humanity. Shotgun Players opens the premiere at Ashby Stage starting Sept. 13, with pay-what-you-can and special pricing available.
Read at www.berkeleyside.org
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