WE’RE THRILLED TO INTRODUCE Charles gao AS THE RECIPIENT OF AMPLIFIER, A SUPPORTED EXPLORATORY CREATION PROCESS FOR PLAYWRIGHTS.
A dancer and now theatre artist of Asian descent, Charles Gao’s breaking journey began in 2008 with the Queen’s Recreational Breakdance Club in Kingston, ON. Leading the club, he expanded its reach, and founded an annual streetdance festival, attracting artists from Canada and abroad. Now performing internationally and in shows such as “REVOLUTION”, he has trained with top breakers in Korea, the US and Europe, winning championships in Finland, India, Japan, and Canada.
In 2018, Charles enrolled in Concordia’s Performance Creation program, blending dance and theater to reimagine his artistic practice. He collaborated as a movement designer and performer in “Maric on the Lake” directed by Cathia Pagotto, and is currently writing his new play, “Welcome to the Digital Desert.” These experiences and conversations with theater-makers continue to shape the trajectory of his artistic career.
Photo credit: Vickie Grondin
About the project
A new theatrical creation interrogating the Internet, Welcome to the Digital Desert (working title) examines the consequences the Internet has had on our bodies and what that means for our humanity, and then dreams about what the Internet could be. It questions the extreme distancing from the tangible reality of our everyday tools, in particular the Internet, and how this normalized ignorance enables our subjugation in online spaces.
How can society take back the Internet?
The story follows Bobbi, a lasagna recipe hunter. She’s stuck in a world owned and operated by DYCON, experiencing it through the Dynet, a perfect AR world. Almost all value has been extracted out of the underclass of humans. It’s where the only time that matters is the time spent on the Dynet. When her funds run out, she has to participate in DYCON’s live-streamed therapy services to get basic essentials like SustainMii. A mysterious ethereal entity recruits Bobbi in a plot to take down DYCON. Meanwhile, the play subjects its audience to ads, sponsored content, and makes them complicit in violations of what we might call a right to privacy, unmasking the ways we relate to our technology. Lasagna is served as a key symbol, anchor for what is real and what is not, and Bobbi’s ultimate desire.
AMPLIFIER is a program by Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal (PWM), LA SERRE–arts vivants (LA SERRE) and the Conseil des Arts de Montréal (CAM) that offers a long-term exploratory creation process to a playwright working creatively in one of Canada’s official languages. This program offers artistic and financial support, including dramaturgical collaboration, a professional workshop with actors, and a residency leading to a presentation to programmers and peers.
The program aims to support the artistic practice of theatre artists who identify as Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, and Inuit), Black, POC, racialized including 1st or 2nd generation immigrant artists (as defined in the Conseil des Arts de Montréal’s glossary) working creatively in one of Canada’s official languages. Additionally, it seeks to foster dialogue between Montréal’s English- and French-speaking theatre communities, as well as intercultural exchanges and greater representation for culturally diverse artists within the theatre community and on Montréal’s stages. This is the third iteration of PWM’s Amplifier program; past alumni include Sylvia Cloutier et chadia.
In order to support artists creating in French and artists creating in English, CAM et La Serre offer this program alternately with the Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD) in French (Résidence Voix Théâtrales), and with PWM in English.
this program is a partnership between
