en route

The Play

Audience members are invited on an extraordinary journey through downtown streetscapes, building lobbies, and cafés—guided by audio tracks and mobile phone communication—as their shifting perceptions make and remake the city they inhabit. Devised specifically for the City of Chicago, en route creates a place where the private and public, imaginary and concrete, intersect and overlap. The event begins with a text message which gives instructions on where to meet the artists. Each of the travelers who go on the “journey” must come with their cell phone and borrow a specially programmed Motorola ATRIX™ 4G, which enhances the experience with music from local Chicago musicians, and spoken text pieces.

Melbourne-based artists Suzanne Kersten, Clair Korobacz, Paul Moir, Julian Rickert and Jackson Castiglione, generate their work from collaborative investigations, shaped primarily by the environment of a specific place—inviting audience members to participate in the theatrical event, encouraging rich and personalized experiences. The company is the recipient of a London 2012 Festival Cultural Olympiad commission to create en route in London as part of next summer's Olympic Games. The piece has received critical acclaim in Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Australia's Melbourne and Adelaide Fringe Festivals.