The Great American Eclipse of 2024 is happening in North America on Monday, with the moon completely blocking the light of the sun in cities from Mazatlan, Mexico to Montreal, Canada, including three in New York State – but not New York City. We’ll only get a partial eclipse.
This weekend, the seven characters of “The Absolute Future” are also missing the total eclipse, on stage at NYU Skirball. Raja Feather Kelly’s dance-theater piece is a world premiere that contemplates the world at the moment of the eclipse through stunning movement, lyrical metaphor and heavy conversation.
As the seven strangers gather first in a parking lot then hike to a campsite waiting for the eclipse to happen, they talk in one scene about the solar system –
“The earth is hurling itself around the sun’s gravitational pull at a speed of about 67,000 miles per hour,” one says.
“And yet,” another adds, “we feel none of this motion” –
And in another scene dance as the sun and the earth and the moon.
The scenes alternate between dances and debates.
In the dialogue scenes, the umbraphiles (“shadow lovers,” in Latin, the word used for eclipse-chasers) chat about politics and social media and existential crises, and such abstruse concepts as Singularity, meant to overcome the existential crisis of mankind. “In Singularity,” one explains, “there will be no clear distinction between human and machine, material reality and virtual reality” – an effort to conquer our inescapable mortality.
Some express skepticism and worry about a future dominated by technology. One views “this whole eclipse business” as “one big continuation of my first existential crisis, which was Y2K.”
Their philosophical exchanges turn into petty squabbles. In a pointed metaphor, they become so consumed by their violence with one another that they miss the eclipse.
But we see it – a moment of stagecraft made awe-inspiring by lighting designer Tuçe Yasak, technical director Aaron Ardisson and the other-worldly music by Christoph Mateka. It’s an absolute highlight of “The Absolute Future,” one that (mostly) makes up for a show that can feel too talky. We should have seen this coming, given what we’re told is its full title: “Death, Loneliness, and The Absolute Future of the Multiverse, or How to Cover the Sun with Mud”
The show ends its two-performance run tonight at 7:30.
The Absolute Future
Conceived, Written, and Directed Raja Feather Kelly
Original Music Christoph Mateka
Video Laura Snow
Lighting Design Tuçe Yasak
Photography Kate Enman
Performance Chris Bell, Ashley Chavonne, Ami Gernux, Alexandria Giroux, Sara Gurevich, Amy Hoang, and Nick Sciscione
