Filled with illusion and enchantment, epic theatre production explores the various ideas of home
An empty stage transforms into a two-story house in a matter of minutes. Walls slide in, furniture appears, and family members find their places in “HOME,” a dizzying, heartfelt, wordless play set to live music.
The magical visual spectacle comes to the Moss Arts Center for two performances on Nov. 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m. The performances will be held in the center’s Anne and Ellen Fife Theatre, located within the Street and Davis Performance Hall at 190 Alumni Mall.
An expansive, funny, and sometimes poignant vision by New York playwright Geoff Sobelle, the work “seems to keep pulling apparitions out of the air,” according to the New York Times.
“HOME” explores and explodes the relationship between “house” and “home.” On stage, a house goes up fast, choreographed like time-lapse photography. Residents move in, move out, get evicted, burn it down, loot it, rent it, remodel it, get married and divorced in it, grow up in it, die in it, haunt it. All the while, they leave and live among traces of residents, present, past, and future. They throw a party, as if everyone who ever lived there could cohabitate, transcending the logic of time and space.
The performance aims to awaken the audience to current housing dilemmas, locally and globally. The universal and timely themes of gentrification and migration are found in the choreography of ordinary people inhabiting a structure, leaving that structure through a variety of social, political, personal, and aesthetic forces, replacing one another.
The theatre is used as a lens through which the audience can see the impact of these forces at work: the illusion of home, the transitory nature of dwelling, the constraints of time and money, the impossible structural demands of a house, and the absurdity — and at times the impossibility — of trying to make a house a home.
Please note: this performance contains nudity.
Related events
Immediately following the performance on Nov. 1, interact with the performers of “HOME” during a post-performance question-and-answer session in the Cube moderated by Patty Raun, professor in the School of Performing Arts and director of the Center for Communicating Science. A ticket stub from the performance is required for admittance.
Before the performance of “HOME” on Nov. 2, Freddy Paige, assistant professor in Virginia Tech’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and assistant director of the Virginia Center for Housing Research, delivers the talk “An Hour of Watt?,” which explores in-home energy use. Beginning at 6 p.m. in the Moss Arts Center Cube, the event is free, but registration is required.
During his visit to Blacksburg, “HOME” creator Sobelle will lead a workshop for Virginia Tech theatre arts students in the creation of original works for performance.
Tickets
Tickets are $25 for general admission and $10 for students and youth 18 and under. Tickets can be purchased online; at the Moss Arts Center's box office, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300 during box office hours.
While Virginia Tech students can always attend any Moss Arts Center performance for only $10, the center also offers free last-minute rush tickets for students who sign up for text notifications. To receive these notifications, text “arts” to 31996. Availability of rush tickets varies by performance and tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last in the box office. Virginia Tech ID will be required for admission.
Parking
Parking is available in the North End Parking Garage on Turner Street. Virginia Tech faculty and staff possessing a valid Virginia Tech parking permit can enter and exit the garage free of charge. Limited street parking is also available. Parking on Alumni Mall is free on weekdays after 5 p.m. and on weekends.
If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Kacy McAllister at 540-231-5300 or email kmcallis@vt.edu during regular business hours at least 10 business days prior to an event.
