←Recommendations of WASH

This is one of those plays that I wish so desperately I could see live. Two scientists have discovered and captured a human who lives underwater. As they perform research to figure out all they can about him, they wrestle with the ethics of what they are doing and their captive's backstory plays out in shadow puppetry. It's a captivating story with some stage images (that tank! the projections! the shadows! the prayer movements!) that I would love to see on a stage one day.

A fascinating discovery leads to questions of the origin of the man and questions of ownership. Powerful and well done.

With masterful strokes of worldbuilding, Young gives us a deeply theatrical sci-fi that provokes an anguished fury against history and the evils of slavery and racism. Tenith is a phenomenal character, anchoring a layered cast amidst opportunities for designers of every medium to work at the top of their craft. Like the best sci-fi, Young (who has such a gift for story construction) examines a small, tightly composed story with massive implications, asking primal human questions and blurring the line between companionship and ownership. This is exactly the kind of piece we don't see on its feet enough. Produce this.

There's a lot to unpack in this great piece of theatrical sci-fi, and also much to just simply appreciate from it as "straightforward" storytelling. The ethics questions propel the story forward. Looking deeper, Tenith is an extraordinary metaphor for the violence perpetrated against Black bodies, and the ways that Black people have had to adapt throughout history to escape, survive, and fight against racism, oppression, and dehumanization. Tenith's theatrically compelling shadow puppet origin story both feels like a huge design/movement opportunity and a powerful connection between the contemporary lives of Black people and historical traumas they arose from.

Travel to humanity's dark depths with this beatifully crafted, deftly executed piece on who we are as people. Sci-fi, at least in my thinking, works best when it uses the unknown to shine a light on something painfully human. TJ Young's raw piece does just that and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to read it. The only thing that would make me happier is seeing it staged. This is one of those rare finds that reminds you how inventive and imaginative theatre can be.

Thanks for that reminder, TJ. Give WASH a read!