You Are in an Open Field
Opening Night: April 26, 2012
Closing: May 19, 2012
Theater: HERE Arts Center
Three New York Neo-Futurists create their own versions of Zork, Minecraft and Zelda live on stage in their first Nerdcore musical. Acquiring treasures, meeting bosses and possessing their very own sage, Kevin, Marta and Adam build their own utopian universe set to a Nerdcore beat. You Are in an Open Field is a modern hip-hoperetta that explores community and identity while trying to defeat the kickball monsters. Will they win? Or is it game over, reset?
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May 8, 2012
There are many games in “You Are in an Open Field” at the Here Arts Center: 1980s-style video games; role-playing games; and “nerdcore” hip-hop, almost resembling a rhyming game. Ostensibly a comic narrative about transcending childhood trauma, this stew, from the New York Neo-Futurists troupe, is really about nostalgia — for Dungeons & Dragons, for innocent rap, for Space Invaders.
READ THE REVIEWMay 3, 2012
If names like “Zork,” “Minecraft” and “Zelda” mean nothing to you, then you are definitely not the target audience for “You Are in an Open Field.” Described as the first “nerdcore musical,” this video game-themed show by the New York NeoFuturists (“Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind”) is playing to the initiated. So if your last gaming experience was Pong, you’ll want to skip this one.
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May 8, 2012
"You are in an open field." The very phrase probably resonates strongly with fans of Zork, an interactive computer game dating back to 1977. Some of its disciples seemed to be enjoying "You Are in an Open Field," the self-styled "hip-hoperetta" attempt to put Zork and Nerdcore hip-hop onstage, quite a lot. The rest of us are left, well, in an open field.
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May 4, 2012
The first line of classic text-based adventure game Zork gets an existentialist spin coupled with a pounding hip-hop beat in You Are In An Open Field, playing at HERE. Although plenty of energy, ideas, and talent abound in this romp, the show, directed by Christopher Dippel, never sufficiently harnesses its considerable assets into anything more than a rowdy series of what feel like improvisational sketches.
READ THE REVIEWApril 28, 2012
What would happen if the coolest nerds you know were to make a rap musical about the daily grind? The result would certainly be the thoroughly entertaining and sharply intelligent You Are In An Open Field.
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