hyper_object

rehearsals

press

the production was not open for review

broadway world article

john hopkins article 1

john hopkins article 2, with video

linked in post

offstage

*l to r: Conor James, Jess Barbagallo, Catherine Gowl, Graham Sack, T. Ryder Smith, David Skeist*

world premiere

Directed and Designed by Graham Sack
derived from Solaris, a novel by Stanislaw Lem
Hopkins Bloomberg Center Theatre, Washington, DC

Produced by Quentin Little

Production and Video Design: Simon Harding
Lighting Design: Colin K. Bills
Music/Sound Design: Matt McCorkle
Costume Design: Karen Boyer
EEG Design: Suzanne Dikker
EEG Programming: Franck Porteous
Developer: Lee Whitman
Planetary Developer: Georgios Cherouvim
Developer/Camera Operator: Conor James
Hair/Makeup: Sara Ritmiller
Associate Producer: Mekala Sridhar
Casting: Sabrina Hyman

Cast
Jess Barbagallo, Catherine Gowl, David Skeist,
T. Ryder Smith
With
Conor James

hyper_object is a live theater and interactive media experience that uses wearable neuro-technology to tell the story of a sentient planet that can perceive the thoughts of humankind. Created by an interdisciplinary team of artists, scholars, and engineers centered at John Hopkins University, the project blends live theater, EEG-based neurotechnology, responsive video, AI, and generative sound to explore the shifting boundaries between human, artificial, and planetary intelligence.

An astrobiologist arrives on a space station orbiting a mysterious exoplanet known as the HyperObject, which gives possible evidence of being sentient. As the crew’s scientific mission unravels into confusion and paranoia, the planet begins to evoke their memories, visions, and unconscious fears. The astrobiologist must confront the possibility that the planetary intelligence they are studying may understand them more deeply than they understand themselves.