(WEST ORANGE, NJ) -- Luna Stage will have a matinee performance of Westphalia on Thursday, October 26 at 1:00pm with tickets for $15. Designed to be accessible to older adults, this performance is open to all ages. Set in the not-too-distant future, Westphalia explores a world grappling with a wild new robotic economy, where AI determines people's right to buy or sell their own citizenship. In an idyllic small town, a family descended from the Pilgrims has fallen on hard times. Will they be allowed to cash out and go somewhere new?
“We are so thrilled to be bringing this world premiere to audiences,” said Luna Stage Artistic Director Ari Laura Kreith. “Westphalia tackles some of the most urgent questions of our time in ways that are unique, surprising, adventurous and hopeful.”
“Westphalia takes on multiple existential threats that humans are facing—AI, the climate crisis—and illustrates how the true threat is, in fact, the capitalist system that exploits our labor and planet,” says director Lila Rachel Becker.
“Technology provides tantalizing possibilities,” elaborates playwright Helen Banner. "In Westphalia, we're using AI to subvert our expectations of national identity. I'm interested in why, when technology is so adaptive and fast-changing, our ideas about citizenship and borders remain so rooted in the old world of seventeenth century Europe.”
“Westphalia has very complex systems and people at its center, but it's also a satire that shows us the absurdity of the moment that we're living through,” says Becker. “I love that Helen holds back from offering easy answers. I hope that encourages us to dream bigger.”
Westphalia opens October 19, and runs Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays at 8:00pm, Saturdays at 8:00pm, and Sundays at 3:00pm through November 12 at Luna Stage, 555 Valley Rd. in West Orange. General admission tickets for the full run are available at LunaStage.org or by calling 973-395-5551.
Luna Stage is a professional regional theatre dedicated to developing and producing vibrant plays about local and global experiences. Firmly rooted in New Jersey's Valley Arts District – a crossroads of cultures – Luna brings its communities together for artistic events that spark conversations and create understanding and change.
Luna received the JerseyArts People's Choice Award for Favorite Small Theatre in New Jersey, and has contributed to the development of over 100 new works for the stage, many of which premiered at Luna and have gone on to be produced in New York, regionally and internationally.
As producer, innovator, and educator, Luna is dedicated to eliminating barriers to participation and allowing all community members to nurture their own creativity and vision. Luna offers classes for children and adults, as well as opportunities for early-career and established theatre artists to develop and incubate new work.
All programs at Luna are pay-what-you-choose to support equity and access to professional arts experiences in our region.
