The second part of 600 Highwaymen’s A Thousand Ways takes place in person at the Public, for two people at a time (photo by Everything Time Studio)
Public Theater
425 Lafayette St.
Part Two: June 8 – August 15, $15
Part One available through July 18, $15
publictheater.org
www.600highwaymen.org
In January, as part of the Public Theater’s annual multidisciplinary Under the Radar festival, the Obie-winning 600 Highwaymen company presented A Thousand Ways (Part One): A Phone Call, a free hourlong telephone conversation between you and another person, randomly put together and facilitated by an electronic voice that asks both general and intimate questions, from where you are sitting to what smells you are missing, structured around a dangerous and lonely fictional situation that is a metaphor for sheltering in place, even though the work began several years ago. It’s a great way to get connected to a stranger while looking inwardly at yourself. In my case, I spoke with a theater-loving woman from the Midwest, and we got along extremely well, making for an engaging and moving discussion.
From June 8 to August 15, the Public will be hosting the next section of the work, A Thousand Ways (Part Two): An Encounter, in which you and a stranger — not the same one — meet in person, sitting across a table, separated from one another by a clear glass panel. There will be no touching and no sharing of objects, following all Covid-19 guidelines. The Public has also brought back the phone call, with slots available through July 18. While you don’t have to experience part one in order to understand part two, it is highly encouraged. Conceived and written by Abigail Browde and Michael Silverstone, who formed 600 Highwaymen in 2009, A Thousand Ways continues their ongoing mission of “aiming at a radical approach to making live art by creating intimacy amongst strangers and illuminating the inherent poignancy of people coming together.” The duo’s previous works include Employee of the Year, Empire City, The Fever, and Theater of the Mind with David Byrne. Tickets for each part of A Thousand Ways are $15; a grand finale is planned in which groups will be able to gather across the globe.
“In this introspective year, it’s been an absolute honor to know that in over twenty-five cities and twelve countries around the world — and now in four languages — strangers are coming together night after night, across phone lines and through glass planes, to imagine one another and, in the process, create a kind of community with and for one another,” Browde and Silverstone said in a statement. And it all starts with a phone call and two people who have never met, evoking how we are all emerging in our own ways from the pandemic lockdown.