A 22 years-old young woman, suffering from agoraphobia, spends her time in her bedroom building a humanoid in her own image. Her only social relations are her disfunctional adoptive family, a pizza delivery boy and, through the internet, three individuals she uses to achieve her grand objective: to build a girl who can substitute her in a voyage around the world in search of her past and the biological mother she’s never met.
Among other themes, this play presents us with a reality where emotional distance is much more easily overcome through the use of technology rather than through actual human interaction. This is an issue ever more present and pressing in contemporary societies.
Rolin Jones is an American playwright and television writer, his 2014 “These Paper Bullets!” won 4 Connecticut Critics Circle Awards, including Best Production of the Year.
His play “The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow” received the OBIE Award for Excellence in Playwriting. Jenny Chow was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama and was produced at the Atlantic Theater Company (NYC), South Coast Repertory, Old Globe Theatre, Yale Rep, Studio Theatre (D.C.), Portland Center Stage, among others. His play “The Jammer” received an Edinburgh Fringe First Award for Best New Writing.
He has written for television shows such as “The Exorcist”, “Weeds”, “Friday Night Lights”, and “Boardwalk Empire.” His “Friday Night Lights” episode, “The Son”, received an Emmy Award Nomination for Outstanding Dramatic Writing and was named by Time Magazine as the best episode of television for the year 2010. Recently, he wrote the film adaptation of “American Idiot” for Universal Pictures and is currently writing an adaptation of the “This American Life” episode, “129 Cars”, for the fine folks at Fox Television Studios.
Playwright Rolin Jones
Direction Mário Montenegro
Cast Catarina Moita Jennifer Marcus, Filipe Eusébio Mr. Marcus, Mr. Zhang, Hugo Inácio Preston, Terrence, Cor. Hubbard, Dr. Yakunin, Voz do tradutor do computador, Sílvia Santos Adele Hartwick, Ms. Zhang, Celso Pedro Todd, Safire Hikari Jenny Chow
Set Design, Wardrobe and Image Pedro Andrade
Video Inês Castanheira
Video registry João Cunha
Lighting Design and Technical Direction Pedro Machado
Original Soundtrack and Sound Design Marcelo dos Reis
Production Direction and Communication Francisca Moreira
Production Assistance Nuno Geraldo
Production Support João Froufe e João Silva**
Hair Design Carlos Gago – Ilídio Design
Co-production Câmara Municipal de Coimbra | Convento São Francisco
With the support of
República Portuguesa – Cultura | Direção-Geral das Artes
Ilídio Design Cabeleireiros
MAFIA – Federação Cultural
Rádio Universidade de Coimbra
Acknowledgements
António Calheiros, Cris Yin, Pedro Oliveira, Pedro Trindade, Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra, O Teatrão, Espectro – Sistemas de Informação
* Curricular internship from Art Studies — Faculty of Arts and Humanities
** Curricular internship from Professional Course Performing Arts – Colégio São Teotónio
- Productions
- The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow
