"a new rag-tag, upstart, rock-and-roll musical that would be truly terrifying if it wasn't so much fun." - The Huffington Post
Coming to the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival !
Joe Barros (Legend of Julie Taymor) is director + choreographer !
James Rado (Hair) is creative consultant !
SYNOPSIS
In Earth Corp, a love-starved society dominated by hyper consumerism and perpetual war, bar codes are tattooed onto peoples' wrists. When scanned during purchases, inside the home and in office buildings, the bar codes publicly register everyone's personal and financial data and feed it into a big computer to track the population.
The bar codes are overseen by ICE, the Information Control Executive of Earth Corp. ICE presides over a system that controls and desensitizes the population with "Mandatory Debt", sensational crime and celebrity-dominated news, "Prozac Pops", and "Flag Fest" ceremonies which maintain popular support for resource wars against insurgents in Earth Corp's outer districts.
An underground group of activists called the Data Jammers are leading the resistance. Data Jammers are able to hack into the vast network of bar code scanners and security cameras to conceal their identities. This enables them to counter the propaganda of Earth Corp with their own brand of media - leaflets, short films and other art forms that are passed around Samizdat-style and appear mysteriously on mainstream broadcast networks.
Against this backdrop an unlikely young couple - Dorna, a talented underground writer and new recruit to the Data Jammers, and Nest, the sheltered son of the Earth Corp Television news anchor - come together in ways that could spark a "freedom virus" revolution.
The first four scenes of BARCODE were written for, and featured in, the Dixon Place "Warning! Not for Broadway Festival"
On Dec 3, 2011 Debbie, Mike and James sang songs from BARCODE at #OccupyBroadway
CREATIVE TEAM
(music, lyrics and book)
Mike and Debbie co-write and perform for the pop band Gladshot whose latest CD "Burn Up and Shine" (with Sonic Youth/Cyndi Lauper producer John Agnello) was said to be "pretty near the top of this year's best indie releases"; and a band who Pop Matters says is "one of the nicest surprises we've had all year". Their songs have been featured on TNT ("Men of a Certain Age"), CW, Oxygen, MTV and ABC television shows, and they've shared the stage with such artists as OK Go, Free Energy and The Antlers. Gladshot's video of their song "Fabulous Friends" is featured on Adbusters who kick started #OccupyWallStreet in Liberty Park. Debbie is an NEA Jazz Award recipient pianist. Mike received BMI's Abe Oleman Award as "the years most promising singer-songwriter".
James Rado
(creative consultant, additional material)With Gerome Ragni, Jim created HAiR, co-authoring the book and lyrics, the latter of which were set to music by Galt MacDermot. (Jim played the lead role of Claude on Broadway).
CONTACT
Press: Sarah Avrin and Dana Cooper, Girlie Action - sarah [[[at]]] girlie.com, dana [[[at]]] girlie.com
Authors: info [[[at]]] barcodethemusical.com
BARCODE cast and creative team; The Tank, 5/23/11