ABOUT US
We are a grouping of interdisciplinary artists seeking to bridge a common gap between performances that are exciting and fun towards work that is *also* accessible, urgent, and didactic (thanks Brecht!). Speaking truth to power through our work as performance-centric artists has an immense potential to shift perspectives past conventional conservatism in the interest of creating a more free and equitable society. Through the varied disciplines coinciding towards the realization of a live work, we believe we can affect perspectives for the common good of all.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Storyline: A trans woman and an unhoused addict – both talented working-class artists – are drawn together through mutual suffering in their daily lives and their recurring nightmares that seem to be bleeding into reality — This production exposes and confronts the grotesque machinery of the modern American caste system, where survival demands we cycle between the endless slavery of wages and the endless consumption of everything…maybe even each other.

ACTUS REUS is a 75-minute theatre piece supported by the 2024 MAP Fund (https://mapfund.org/2024-grantees/) Grant Cycle. It is the creation of an ensemble of trans, queer, and working-class artists. The piece is a fusion of movement, sound, and surrealist design used to confront the cannibalistic logic of capitalism. Through a dystopic retro-futurism aesthetic and visceral ritualized performance, ACTUS REUS literalizes the violence of class struggle and asks:

When survival demands that we consume each other, what remains of our humanity?

The project is currently in development for a Spring 2026 premiere in New York City, following a devised, community-engaged process.

This new production traverses genre, inspired largely by the works of Bertolt Brecht and Sarah Kane, to lace theatre with live sound and dance-based movement sequences to create a raw and visceral world.

We are seeking artists across disciplines to create the world of the show- actors, dancers, actors who move, dancers who act, or any combination of the above are strongly encouraged to apply.

SUBMIT ELECTRONICALLY

Submission Deadline: 12/19/2025

Seeking:

[REYA] REYA- [Seeking Co-Lead] protagonist. A transwoman contending with wrongful termination and grappling with the realities of daily survival when she is struck with nightmares that connect her and Abel and beyond their physical existence. Soon these dreams set in motion a path to resistance in the face of a rising regime.

[ABEL] Protagonist. ABEL is a young unhoused army veteran, navigating survival on eerily familiar dystopian streets while still decorated in heavily worn fatigues and steel toed boots. Quick to remind others of the importance of putting yourself first in any situation, ABEL has remarkable intellect and acute understanding of how society operates.

[PAZ] We meet PAZ on her first evening unhoused, fleeing from an unsafe home. After an encounter with Abel, and taking his advice to heart PAZ leaves her fear behind and grows into a resolute, determined, and ultimately unforgiving person, working to preserve the systems at work, and against those who resist.
To double with featured ensemble roles.

[LOUIS] LOUIS is personifies militant masculinity, and seems to operate from either his head or his groin, and never simultaneously. A warranted source of fear for Raya. Even when he learns that he has been fighting for a flawed cause, his surefooted nature remains intact. To double with featured ensemble roles.

[DANCER 1] To be featured lead dancers in choreography-based nightmare sequences alongside DANCER 2. Should be comfortable in contemporary and Butoh inspired dance styles. Both DANCER roles may take on small speaking roles within the text.

[DANCER 2] To be featured lead dancers in choreography-based nightmare sequences alongside DANCER 1. Should be comfortable in contemporary and Butoh inspired dance styles. Both DANCER roles may take on small speaking roles within the text.

[ENSEMBLE (5 PERFORMERS TOTAL)] These artists will make up the movement ensemble for nightmare sequences alongside DANCER 1 and 2.
In addition they will appear in many scenes of the show, taking on a combination of the following roles as cast: DOCTOR, FRIEND, MANAGER, INTERVIEWER, COP, CLIENT, DANCING SHADOWS, SOMEONE, SHADOWY FIGURES, GUARD, GUESTS, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PRISONERS