The Conquered

2022–23 Fay Chandler Creativity Grant

Stage view of The Conquered. Photo by Caroline Alden.
Stage view of The Conquered. Photo by Caroline Alden.

A new multimedia theater piece inspired by innovations in neurotechnology

About

A new multimedia theater piece inspired by innovations in neurotechnology, The Conquered explores the adaptability of the mind. The play follows Jane who feels as if someone else is living inside her head: who is that young man haunting her dreams? 

Senior Lecturer Ken Urban and Class of 1949 Professor Jay Scheib will collaborate on this new work during a weeklong residency in December 2022, culminating with a public performance for the MIT community.

Schedule

Past Events

The Conquered: Work-in-Progress Presentation
December 9 and 10, 2022 / 8:00pm
MIT Building W97
345 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA

Collaborators

Ken Urban, senior lecturer in the Music and Theater Arts program at MIT, is an award-winning playwright whose work for the stage and screen engages the pressing political issues of our time. His plays, which include A Guide for the Homesick, The Remains, and Sense of an Ending, tackle a wide variety of subjects ranging from the rise of anti-gay violence in Uganda to the tragedy of gay divorce in Boston. His work has been produced regionally at the Huntington Theatre and the Studio Theatre; in London’s West End at Trafalgar Studios; and off-Broadway at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 59E59 Theatres, and the Public Theater. At MIT, Urban founded the MTA Playwrights Lab, a play festival featuring student-written plays performed by professional actors.

Biography: MIT Music and Theater Arts
Website: kenurban.org
Social: Instagram | Twitter


Associate head of MIT’s Music and Theater Arts program, Jay Scheib is internationally known for genre-defying works of daring physicality and the integration of new and used technologies in live performance. Known for his sometimes controversial contemporary stagings and for pioneering his Live Cinema Performances, he has won numerous awards, including the 2012 Obie Award for Best Director and a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2009, Scheib was named by American Theatre magazine as one of the 25 artists who will shape the next 25 years of American theater.

Biography: MIT Music and Theater Arts
Website: jayscheib.org
Social: Facebook | Instagram