SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Based on the real stories of gamers, THE VIDEO GAME MONOLOGUES shares first times, legendary battles, and the lives changed by pressing “Start.” Part fantasy and part ethnography, this episodic play stages the adventures of hardcore and casual gamers alike, punctuated by cameos of notorious and beloved game characters. From arcade to console, The Video Game Monologues reminds us to learn from our fatalities and cherish our 1Ups. Lian Amaris, Founding Artistic Director of Vector Art Ensemble, directs.
“We believe the memories made around video games are as significant for a person’s identity as music, books, or any other experiential medium,” said Amaris. “As misplaced proof of their influence, video games are often used as cultural scapegoats for violence and sexism, but performing these stories amplifies the redemptive power of games and how they can change lives.” The company ran a successful IndieGoGo campaign with over 50 contributors from tech, art, theater, and media to help produce the play.
“The show features games and gamers with equal representation- male, female, hardcore, casual, young, old, arcade, console, and mobile- while addressing the complex relationship between screens and psyches. Beyond their entertainment value, games are a cultural barometer for how we connect to or disconnect from other people through technology.”
THE VIDEO GAME MONOLOGUES runs September 20, 21, 27 and 28, with 8pm performances at The Phoenix Theatre Annex, 414 Mason Street, 4th floor, between Geary and Post. Tickets are $15 in advance at tvgm.eventbrite.com. An excerpted preview performance at the Cartoon Art Museum on September 19 precedes the opening. Immediately following the West Coat premiere, THE VIDEO GAME MONOLOGUES will have its East Coast premiere at Nuyorican Poets Cafe October 2-5.
Lián Amaris has produced original genre-bending work at a number of internationally recognized spaces for experimental theater including P.S. 122, HERE Arts Center, and Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theater. Amaris’s monologue, Swimming to Spalding, directed by Richard Schechner, was called "a riveting piece of theater" with "some of the most powerful indictments of contemporary warfare that have been on stage in recent memory" by Backstage. Amaris holds Master's degrees from New York University in Performance Studies and Interactive Telecommunications, and a BA in theater from UMass at Amherst. Her work has been covered by The New York Times, Forbes, MSNBC, Buzzfeed, The Huffington Post, The Next Web, Geeksugar, New Media Rockstars, The Laughing Squid, The Daily Kos, The Daily What, and more. She is currently Director of User Engagement at Glu Mobile, a mobile game company in San Francisco.