Blindness

101 East 15th Street,New York NY 10003

21 May, 2021

Description

PEN World Voices Festival supporters receive exclusive access to ‘Blindness,’ a socially distant production at NYC's Daryl Roth Theatre. Blindness, one of the most gripping pandemic novels to precede our current crisis, has been transformed into a chilling, multisensory experience. Adapted by the Tony Award-winning English playwright Simon Stephens from Portuguese novelist José Saramago’s modern classic and directed by Walter Meierjohann, this socially distant theatrical experiment has been hailed by The New York Times as a “beautifully executed… stimulating sojourn back to in-person theater” with its U.S. premiere at the Daryl Roth Theatre in New York City, following an acclaimed run at the Donmar Warehouse in London. In Blindness, an inexplicable illness breaks out across an unnamed city, rendering nearly every denizen blind. As degeneracy surges and society verges on the brink of collapse, a lone woman who seems immune to the plague guides her ophthalmologist husband and a makeshift family wrought by quarantine through their newly lawless streets in pursuit of survival and hope. Meierjohann’s production combines cutting-edge audio technology with atmospheric lighting and design that immerses the audience into the sensorial landscape of Saramago’s horrifyingly prescient vision. Hope, however, is inherent to Blindness’ boundary-pushing form: allowing audiences to safely come together as the world begins to emerge from this moment. Ticket buyers should note that this is an in-person special event in New York City’s Union Square neighborhood. PEN America supporters can secure discounted tickets to this soon-to-be-sold-out show for this special PEN World Voices Festival performance only. If you have any questions, please visit our FAQs. — Ticket buyers should note the following: All tickets are sold in pairs at the comparable price of a single off-Broadway ticket. This enables a single person to purchase a pod to themselves or two people in a “social bubble” to attend and be seated together. Each two-seat “pod” will be socially distanced six feet away from other pods.PEN America supporters can secure discounted tickets to this soon-to-be-sold-out show for this special PEN World Voices Festival performance only.This is an in-person special event that will take place at the Daryl Roth Theatre, located at 101 East 15th Street (between Union Square East and Irving Place) in the Union Square neighborhood of New York City.Tickets will be provided at will call. Please show your confirmation email when checking in.Tickets are non-refundable.Masks and social distancing are required, and all attendees will complete a health questionnaire and temperature check prior to ent ering the theater. For COVID safety information, please visit the event website.For more safty infomation please view our safety video. — Production Credits Daryl Roth, Elizabeth Artmstrong, Jane Bergère, Tom Tuft, No Guarantees, Gabrielle Palitz/Jack Lane present: The Donmar Warehouse Production of Blindness Based on the novel by José Saramago Adapted by Simon Stephens With the voice of Juliet Stevenson Directed by Walter Meierjohann Sound Designers, Ben and Max Ringham Designer, Lizzie Clachan Lighting Designer, Jessica Hung Han Yun Production Management, Aurora Productions U.S. Associate Director, Markus Potter U.S. Associate Sound Designer, Gina Scherr U.S. Associate Lighting Designer, Chris Cronin International Producer, David Adkin U.K. Production Consultant, Professor Hannah Thompson U.K. Assistant Director, Sara Aniqah Malik Advertising, Situation Interactive Press Representative, Boneau/Bryan-Brown Marketing Director, Meghan Bartley Associate Producer, Adam Hess General Management, DR Theatrical Management — The 2021 PEN World Voices Festival convenes fiction and nonfiction writers, poets, translators, thinkers, and activists to honor the art of the possible and the power of storytelling to push boundaries, challenge inherited narratives, and give voice to hope, courage, and survival. In a year when division and bloodshed have been fueled by hatreds based on race, ethnicity, and religion, the Festival celebrates resilience and courage, and summons the powers of the radical imagination and literature as gateways to reckoning and reconciliation. We thank our sponsors for their generous support in making this year’s Festival possible. Presenting Sponsors Amazon Crossing • Amazon Literary Partnership • Institut Ramon Llull • Japan Foundation, Los Angeles • JKW Foundation • New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment • National Endowment for the Arts • New York State Council on the Arts • New York City Department of Cultural Affairs • Vilcek Foundation Media Partners Hudson Booksellers • The New Republic • The Paris Review Community & Regional Partners Asian American Writers Workshop • Austin Library Foundation • Community of Literary Magazines & Presses (CLMP) • Dallas Literary Festival • Harriman Institute at Columbia University • Kenning Editions • Magic City Poetry Festival • Miami Book Fair • National Queer Theater • New York Immigration Coalition • New York Theatre Workshop • Nuyorican Poets Cafe • Radius of Arab American Writers (RAWI) • The Mexican Studies Institute at the City University of New York (CUNY) • Word Alliance