Q&A: TomorrowLove™

Amy Keating in TomorrowLove™

Following the success of Vitals (2014 Dora Awards for Outstanding Production and Outstanding New Play), Outside The March has a new show opening this November. TomorrowLove™ is an intimate immersive encounter that imagines the future of romantic connection. Written by Rosamund Small and directed by Mitchell Cushman, the experience promises to be a hot indie ticket this season.

TomorrowLove™ leads audiences through a series of simultaneously-unfolding duets, in which innovations in technology grant physical transformation, time and space travel, immortality, the extraction of the human soul, and a fridge that expands to hold infinite groceries—all in the name of love.

Here, cast member Amy Keating chats with us about her role this unique production.

Theatromania: How would you describe TomorrowLove in a few sentences?

AK: TomorrowLove is a play about love, relationships, and the future. The play imagines a world not so distant from our own, where certain technologies have been created to make love and connection that much easier. The world of TomorrowLove is much like our own, but everything is just a little bit more possible.

Theatromania: What can audiences expect from this encounter? Will we be integral to the story or more like observers?

AK: Ooooh!!! So much! Aspects of the show are going to be different each night, and every audience member is going to have their own unique experience.

Theatromania: As a performer, how do you prepare for a part in an immersive show like this? Is there a lot of improvisation involved?

AK: I am still figuring that out, because this show is different than any show I have ever worked on, and going to be an acting challenge extraordinaire. The entire experience is scripted, imagined and written by our incredible playwright Rosamund Small. Each actor is playing a multitude of different characters, and it changes every performance. I am playing a total of four characters each night, and will have learned a total of eight different characters in total.

The characters that I, and the seven other awesome actors (Oyin Oladejo, Anand Rajaram, Damien Atkins, Katherine Cullen, Mayko Nyugen, Paul Dunn, and Cyrus Lane) are playing will be decided on the spot at the beginning of each performance. This will happen in front of the audience, through an intricate choreographed dance, by internationally acclaimed ballet choreographer, Robert Binet. There will be a lot of memorization, imagination, and unexpected surprises. What makes me most excited about the show (both the fun and challenge of it), is having different acting partners all the time. It will ask a lot from all of us, I think, in terms of being present, following our impulses, and responding truthfully. It is the best acting exercise/challenge an actor can ask for!

Theatromania: Can you relate to the vision of the future in this show?

AK: Ummm, hell yeah. I think the world that Rosamund has written is incredibly believable, and truthfully not that far from our own. In each of the 15 different scenes, Rosamund has imagined some new technology that has transformed the world, but at the same time, feels oh so familiar. In a world where Google Glass got invented, the scenarios that Rosamund has imagined feel totally plausible.

Theatromania: What have you learned from this experience so far?

AK: I think what humans crave above anything else is love and connection. That is what is at the heart of all of these stories. We want to feel seen and understood. All of the technologies in this play aim to do that—to enhance/better/modify how we connect to and understand each other. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t. But what it comes down to at the end of the day, is a human not wanting to be alone in this world. Everyone can relate to that. Especially as we move forward into this time where everyone is constantly on their iPhones, and the easiest way to meet people is online, all of this seems not just prophetic but a kind of documentary of our time.

Theatromania: What's next for you?

AK: I have two projects coming up that I am SO excited about! First I am doing a production of Hand to God at Manitoba Theatre Centre (MTC) in January, and then I come back to Toronto to work with Jennifer Tarver and Necessary Angel on a beautiful play called A City by Greg MacArthur.

See Amy Keating in TomorrowLove™, November 19 to December 4, 2016 at The Aorta - 733 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto. Visit outsidethemarch.ca for more information and to buy tickets.