Zero Cost House
Let us first be as simple and well as Nature ourselves, dispel the clouds which hang over our brows, and take up a little life into our pores. — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
A dream of radical change, thinks Toshiki Okada, reading Walden from his home in Tokyo. A beautiful book, but only a dream. But then 3/11 happens—those numbers will, for a generation of Japanese people, stand in for the earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear disaster at Fukushima. In Tokyo, “unconfirmed” urban radiation levels are reported and milk is removed from supermarket shelves. In this atmosphere of deadly weirdness an architect who studies the homes of the homeless declares himself Prime Minister of Japan from his artist’s refuge in Kumamoto, far outside the city in Western Japan. For Toshiki, the Walden fantasy is becoming a growing necessity.
Created by Pig Iron Theatre Company
Performance History
2012. Philadelphia FringeArts Festival
TPAM – Yokohama, Japan
Under the Radar Festival at the Public Theater, NYC
Ringling International Arts Festival, FL
Davis Center for the Performing Arts at Georgetown University, DC
Team
Director Dan Rothenberg
Text Toshiki Okada
Translator Aya Ogawa
Contributing Writer/Dramaturg Jackie Sibblies Drury
Scenic Designer Mimi Lien
Lighting Designer Peter West
Costume Designer Maiko Matsushima
Sound Designer Katie Down
Associate Sound Designer Mikaal Sulaiman
Ensemble Mary McCool, Shavon Norris, James Sugg,
Alex Torra, and Dito van Reigersberg
Production Manager Belina Mizrahi
Stage Manager E Sara Barnes
Technical Director Joseph R. Glodek
Props Master Kimitha Casin
Lighting and Sound Coordinator Seth Reiser
Crew Jason Aufdem-Brinke, Reuven Goren, Kyle Grant, and Aaron Waxman
Support
Zero Cost House was developed in part at The Beppu Project in Japan and at Playmakers Rep in North Carolina.
Press
Visit the Pig Iron site for press and additional materials.