Best Experimental Theater

Thaddeus Phillips, creator of the Earth's Sharp Edge, fuses intellect and feeling with an entirely original vision, making theater out of dented desks, toy airplanes, memory, politics and his own voice and body. This piece began with Phillips -- playing himself -- getting stopped by airport security for carrying the book Extreme Islam. Phillips's explanations and descriptions of his trip to Morocco made up the body of the play. At one point, a suitcase opened, and Palestinian hijacker Leila Khaled stepped out. At another, a man was asked to empty his suitcases onto a table. They contained nothing but sand, and within minutes, the table became a miniature desert. Sharp Edge was about many things, but above all, it was about maps, borders and crossings, the interstices between one place, time or culture and another. Brilliantly acted by Phillips and the Buntport troupe, it was an exhilarating evening of theater.