HOME/SICK
Disgusted by the Vietnam War and the government's repression of those seeking equality domestically, a handful of leaders from the 1960s student movement seized control of Students for a Democratic Society and reshaped it in the name of overthrowing the United States government. Believing violence to be the only means to a true and lasting peace, these passionate idealists accelerated a movement to its fervor, but left a country behind.
HOME/SICK was developed in part during a 2009-2010 Residency at Horse Trade Theater, and premiered at The Collapsable Hole, July 2011, where it was named a New York Times Critics' Pick, a Backstage Critics' Pick and an Off-Off-Online Pick of the Week. HOME/SICK was reprised at The undergroundzero festival at The Living Theater, July 2012 and co-produced by The Living Theater in November 2012. HOME/SICK performed at Wesleyan University in January 2014.
Created by The Assembly
Directed by Jess Chayes
Devised and written collectively by The Company
Scenic Design Nick Benacerraf
Lighting Design Miriam Nilofa Crowe
Sound Design Asa Wember
Costume Design Deanna Frieman
Choreography Sara Pauley
Fight Choreography Sean Chin
Dramaturg Stephen Aubrey
Stage Manager Marianne Broome
Producer Ariela Rotenberg
Cast: Edward Bauer (David), Ben Beckley (Tommy), Kate Benson (Bernard), Anna Abhau Elliot (Kathy), Luke Harlan (Paul), Emily Perkins (Anna)
Photos by John Hagan, Nick Benacerraf, and Justine de Penning
*NYT Critics' Pick
“A cutting-edge young theater collective…Jess Chayes’s intense and thoughtful direction guides the audience through two decades of the group’s history….By the end we have witnessed a sort of sociological big bang, when this tight, angry ball of political energy suddenly bursts and disbands irreparably.”
– Catherine Rampell, The New York Times on HOME/SICK
*Critics' Pick
“An intelligent and dynamic package…The ensemble’s connection with one another is the truest homage they could offer to the memory of the collective they have clearly, though reservedly, come to admire.”
– Jason Fitzgerald, Backstage Magazine on HOME/SICK
*Pick of the week
“This is a group of brilliant artists who will, without question, make their mark in the world of theater for a long time to come….Jess Chayes’s direction is daring and engrossing….Their connection with one another, both as actors and characters, is palpable and powerful.”
– Hilary Bettis, OffOffOnline on HOME/SICK
“Impressively researched and clear-eyed, home/sick shows us the Underground’s internal contradictions, and we see Bolshevik passion lapsing into self-delusion and then flaring up again, until we are unsure what to admire and what to deplore.”
– Helen Shaw, Time Out NY on HOME/SICK