Impossible Cities: A Utopian Experiment
Encyclopedia
Impossible Cities: A Utopian Experiment is multidisciplinary play inspired by Italo Calvino
's Invisible Cities
and which deals with the fates of four different utopian communities in the United States. The play was staged by Walkabout Theater and premiered at Peter Jones Gallery. It grew out of a solo show by Seth Bockley, who also performs in the longer show.
One character, played by Jessica Hudson, works as a sort of master of ceremonies and narrates a number of chapters from Calvino's books. The four other performers in the play each discuss a single utopian experiment. Many of their speeches are autogiographical, and all deal explicitly with the relationship between the visions of the founders and the details of urban planning. Chloe Johnston discusses how the fortuitous discovery of a cookbook led to her interest in the Amana Colonies
. Seth Zurer talks about life in Clarion, Utah
, the site of an early twentieth-century Jewish experiment in rural living, an experiment in which his grandparents participated. Ira Murfin, in the most autobiographical segment, discusses Paolo Soleri
's Arcosanti
project in the Arizona desert. Seth Bockley takes up the life of, first, Joseph Smith, Jr. and the history of Mormonism
, especially in the community of Nauvoo, Illinois
and, second, Etienne Cabet
, a French socialist who brought hundreds of settlers to Nauvoo after the Mormons had been forced to leave.
Impossible Cities was recommended on the "Three to See" segment of Eight Forty-Eight, Chicago's public radio station WBEZ http://audio.wbez.org/848/2007/01/848_20070104f.mp3 It also was chosen to be part of "The Reader Recommends" in The Chicago Reader
.
Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the Our Ancestors trilogy , the Cosmicomics collection of short stories , and the novels Invisible Cities and If on a winter's night a traveler .Lionised in Britain and the United States,...
's Invisible Cities
Invisible Cities
Invisible Cities is a novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. It was published in Italy in 1972 by Giulio Einaudi Editore.-Description:The book explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of cities by an explorer, Marco Polo...
and which deals with the fates of four different utopian communities in the United States. The play was staged by Walkabout Theater and premiered at Peter Jones Gallery. It grew out of a solo show by Seth Bockley, who also performs in the longer show.
One character, played by Jessica Hudson, works as a sort of master of ceremonies and narrates a number of chapters from Calvino's books. The four other performers in the play each discuss a single utopian experiment. Many of their speeches are autogiographical, and all deal explicitly with the relationship between the visions of the founders and the details of urban planning. Chloe Johnston discusses how the fortuitous discovery of a cookbook led to her interest in the Amana Colonies
Amana Colonies
The Amana Colonies are a group of settlements of radical German Pietists in Iowa, USA, comprising seven villages. Calling themselves the Ebenezer Society or the Community of True Inspiration , they first settled in New York state near Buffalo in what is now the Town of West Seneca...
. Seth Zurer talks about life in Clarion, Utah
Clarion, Utah
Clarion is a ghost town in Sanpete County, Utah, United States. Lying about southwest of Gunnison, Clarion was the site of a brief, early-twentieth century experiment in Jewish rural living...
, the site of an early twentieth-century Jewish experiment in rural living, an experiment in which his grandparents participated. Ira Murfin, in the most autobiographical segment, discusses Paolo Soleri
Paolo Soleri
Paolo Soleri is an Italian-American architect. He established Arcosanti and the educational Cosanti Foundation. Soleri is a lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a National Design Award recipient in 2006.-Early life:Soleri was born in Turin, Italy...
's Arcosanti
Arcosanti
Arcosanti is an experimental town that began construction in 1970 in central Arizona, north of Phoenix, at an elevation of 3,732 feet...
project in the Arizona desert. Seth Bockley takes up the life of, first, Joseph Smith, Jr. and the history of Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
, especially in the community of Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
and, second, Etienne Cabet
Étienne Cabet
Étienne Cabet was a French philosopher and utopian socialist. He was the founder of the Icarian movement and led a group of emigrants to found a new society in the United States.-Biography:...
, a French socialist who brought hundreds of settlers to Nauvoo after the Mormons had been forced to leave.
Impossible Cities was recommended on the "Three to See" segment of Eight Forty-Eight, Chicago's public radio station WBEZ http://audio.wbez.org/848/2007/01/848_20070104f.mp3 It also was chosen to be part of "The Reader Recommends" in The Chicago Reader
The Chicago Reader
The Chicago Reader is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded in 1971 by a group of friends from Carleton College...
.