THE TWO WORLDS PROJECT
Play Reading at Whitcomb’s

Saturday, May 24 at 7:30
Whitcomb’s
Suggested donation: $10

The Two Worlds Project is a verbatim play that aims to explore the rural-urban divide in New York State. Crafted from 40 interviews with individuals from the North Country and New York City, the play explores the experiences, attitudes and values of people who live in the country or the city or relocate from one to the other. The performance project seeks to explore how theater can disrupt the biases and stereotypes individuals might have about people from a community that is geographically and/or culturally different from their own.

The project is conceived by Ryan Howland, a theatre artist, educator, and doctoral candidate at the Educational Theatre program at New York University. Originally from the rural Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and now living in New York City, Ryan noticed common generalizations and perceptions about “the city,” and “the country.” 

“These perceptions seep into our politics, our viewpoints, and our cultural and community makeup; further driving division and polarization in the United States,” states Howland. 

The Two Worlds Project seeks to disrupt that division by hearing the verbatim voices of North Country and New York City residents and using theatre to create a space where those voices can be heard in the same room, in conversation that might not actually happen in real life.

The performance is a staged reading (approximately 60 minutes) with performers from the Adirondack area, followed by a brief conversation with audience members (approximately 20 minutes).