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Super Icarus Bros.

A A A Comments By Jef Otte Thursday, Oct 14 2010

People have short attention spans, notes Julie Rada, artistic director of the LIDA Project, and they’re getting shorter. So with its upcoming presentation of the original play Hot+Wax, LIDA is both banking on and betting against just that. “You could come and play nostalgic video games the whole time — you might not even be paying attention,” Rada says. “I mean, we’re putting some effort into this, so I hope people do pay attention.” The play, which boasts an original 8-bit score by Ryan McRyhew, combines the story of Icarus, the collapse of AIG and old-school Nintendo video games for a narrative that, although essentially scripted, can be fragmented in multiple ways, allowing audience members to make decisions on the order of its arc. That way, says Rada, the show can examine “where the human and organic bump up against the circuitboard.”

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And if that sounds pretty avant-garde, Rada readily acknowledges it — but Hot+Wax is not avant-garde to the point of alienation. “I think it’s going to be really fun,” she says. “There’s a lot of sexuality, a lot of raunchy humor, and then there’s weird Nintendo sounds. How could you go wrong?”

The play opens at 8 p.m. tonight at BINDERY | space, 2180 Stout Street, and continues its run Fridays and Saturdays (and some Thursdays) through October 23. Tickets are $12; for more information, go to www.lida.org or call 720-221-3821.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Thu., Oct. 7, 8 p.m.; Thu., Oct. 14, 8 p.m.; Thu., Oct. 21, 8 p.m. Starts: Sept. 24. Continues through Oct. 23, 2010

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