TISSUE ISSUE / THE WRITING ON THE BATHROOM WALL

TISSUE ISSUE (Brenda Duran) is a whimsical interactive set design meant to trigger our new thoughts and opinions on the obscure events during the pandemic. When the world was notified about the virus, people were rushing to the store not for food, or medicine, but for toilet paper. It was the catalyst of odd behavior that circled through social media and kept us all entertained during the months of isolation. Looking through the sustainability lens, this set is designed with the intentions of utilizing repurposed, reusable and recyclable materials.

THE WRITING ON THE BATHROOM WALL (Everette Fournier + Anita Chastanet) is a club, an imaginary meeting place, and an installation exploring themes of isolation in public spaces. As we bring our bodies and minds back together into social settings, how has long-term isolation affected our ability to participate in these spaces? How have these spaces changed? Are they safer or more precarious than they were prior to the pandemic? Within this piece we hope to invoke the statement: loneliness doesn’t disappear just because we are able to be in space together. Loneliness runs much deeper, it perseveres in crowded spaces, around family and friends. Yet we exist in a world that would continue to pretend that the “normal” we are striving to get back to shouldn’t come with fundamental change. Here, we play with the balancing act of navigating social anxiety and the joy in togetherness.

(Tissue Issue and The Writing on the Bathroom Wall premiered at Eastern Front Theatre's MACRO Creation Series: ISOLATIONS in March 2023.)

ACCESS NOTES: Loud music, moving lights. The Writing on the Bathroom Wall is an enclosed 5' x 6' space with a 48" doorway.