HOW TO PICK A LOCK

by Tanuja Devi Jagernauth

The year is 2030. The entire Chicagoland area is heavily militarized. All city services are privatized and owned by Ama-Drone, a company that brings together the best of Amazon and military drone technology.

Only the richest 1% have easy access to the internet, food, clothing, and basic necessities. The rich expect everyone else to make do with scanty rations on top of poor wages, housing instability, rare...

The year is 2030. The entire Chicagoland area is heavily militarized. All city services are privatized and owned by Ama-Drone, a company that brings together the best of Amazon and military drone technology.

Only the richest 1% have easy access to the internet, food, clothing, and basic necessities. The rich expect everyone else to make do with scanty rations on top of poor wages, housing instability, rare access to health care, the constant threat of incarceration, and dwindling Constitutional Rights.

Thankfully, there are those who choose to resist. Zahra is a lockpicker, and she knows that her skills can help Chicagoans liberate and access the resources they need. How To Pick A Lock is a recreation of Zahra's first skillshare when four special audience members help her learn that the work of liberation is never a solo affair.

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HOW TO PICK A LOCK

Recommended by

  • Nick Malakhow: HOW TO PICK A LOCK by Tanuja Devi Jagernauth
    “

    This play is a revelation! What an amazing use of immersive theater techniques and the themes explored--healing and processing in communal and collective spaces, individualism, capitalistic overreach, existential dread of the commodification of society, the dystopian endgame of the cis-white-het-patriarchy--are done so with complexity and nuance. The world building is amazing as well--it manages to never feel like exposition. I'd be so thrilled to experience a production of this!

    This play is a revelation! What an amazing use of immersive theater techniques and the themes explored--healing and processing in communal and collective spaces, individualism, capitalistic overreach, existential dread of the commodification of society, the dystopian endgame of the cis-white-het-patriarchy--are done so with complexity and nuance. The world building is amazing as well--it manages to never feel like exposition. I'd be so thrilled to experience a production of this!

    ”
  • Conor McShane: HOW TO PICK A LOCK by Tanuja Devi Jagernauth
    “

    A play that manages to be a frighteningly plausible (hopefully alternate) near future story and a genuinely uplifting illustration of our collective strength through solidarity, How to Pick a Lock is a moving ode to the power of mass resistance (and the corporate co-opting thereof). I bet it would've been really cool to experience live!

    A play that manages to be a frighteningly plausible (hopefully alternate) near future story and a genuinely uplifting illustration of our collective strength through solidarity, How to Pick a Lock is a moving ode to the power of mass resistance (and the corporate co-opting thereof). I bet it would've been really cool to experience live!

    ”
  • Cheryl Bear: HOW TO PICK A LOCK by Tanuja Devi Jagernauth
    “

    In an all too probable future, we're given the key we will likely need. A case for the power of our minds, the magic of community and the infinite possibilities and skills we can put to use together. Beautifully done!

    In an all too probable future, we're given the key we will likely need. A case for the power of our minds, the magic of community and the infinite possibilities and skills we can put to use together. Beautifully done!

    ”
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