Kelli Shermeyer, director

Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley

Live Arts, 2018 (Staged Reading)

​

​

The Live Arts Foundry hosted a staged reading of Jennifer Haley's NEIGHBORHOOD 3: REQUISITION OF DOOM, directed by me and featuring the prodigious talents of Alec Beard, Marty Moore, Inigo Drake, and Laura Brunk.

​

N3RD first premiered ten years ago at the 32nd annual Human Festival of New American Plays at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Like Haley’s more infamous play, THE NETHER, Neighborhood 3 raises questions about how technologies like internet-based video games or virtual reality shape our ability to express ourselves and connect with others.

 

The play presented the actors with the challenge of distinguishing three or four characters within a general "type" or perhaps playing loosely with the idea of the customizable avatar available in many video games. I loved the idea of doing a play that so robustly engages with technology as a stripped-down staged reading, especially since it's a bit of a horror play; your imagination will always create something scarier than what we could show you on stage.