This is Reading

In 2011, the US Census Bureau singled out Reading, PA as the poorest city in the nation. Soon after, the city was overwhelmed by a wave of negative publicity and set about to launch a campaign to resurrect its image. Playwright Lynn Nottage will focus on the individual struggles of the people in Reading, with the hope of providing a compassionate and fresh perspective on a community battling to pull itself out of poverty. Over the course of one year, the artists will document the lives of the people in Reading.  It will be a comprehensive work using multiple creative platforms to tell the story of a city that is in search of a new narrative. The city and its residents represent a large canvas, and the artists will develop a work that uses a range of narrative tools, including theatre, film, photography, and digital media to tell a fully integrated story.

The ultimate goal is to create a piece of social and interactive art that lives in Reading, PA as a transmedia installation with companion works that reach a larger audience through the stage and screen. Interviews and verite footage will serve as foundation for a documentary and a theatre piece. An interactive website, along with the photography, will provide deeper investigation into the lives of Reading’s citizens. The artists want to create an innovative work that invites the audience to look at Reading, PA from many different and non-traditional angles, with the hope that it will provoke people to ask bold questions about the staggering impact of poverty on our culture.