“Impossible Cities: A Utopian Experiment” | Walkabout Theater Company
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Of course while envisioning utopia may be relatively easy, creating a stable utopian community is probably impossible. That’s pretty much the point of the four theater pieces at the core of the show, curated and directed by Redmoon’s Seth Bockley, who also participated. But if the vision part is so easy, how come not one of the five artists came up with his or her own? Each work can be charming, humorous, or informative at times, but the utopias discussed are all borrowed. Perhaps that’s why the evening feels derivative and flat, wistful rather than passionate.
Ira S. Murfin also relies on the thinking of a 20th-century visionary—in this case, Paolo Soleri, who began building the Arcosanti community in central Arizona in 1970. Devoted to Soleri’s principles of “arcology,” which attempt to reconcile architecture and ecology, the place is still under construction. Murfin’s monologue, Arcosanti as Intent, is long and circuitous without any real payoff: his experiences there as a resident and tour guide make the place sound like any postcollegiate community. Maybe that’s his point, but at any rate the piece comes alive only when Murfin gets up and dances at the end.
