Annie Dorsen’s
Democracy In America Launch Party
Monday November 26
9:30 PM
$10.00

Tonight, the worldwide market for DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA officially opens. Join Annie Dorsen, award-winning director and co-creator of last year’s hit musical PASSING STRANGE, as she auctions off DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, the first performance piece in which the consumers are the creators. Make a bid for your wildest ideas to be included in this pop-political extravaganza – buy a dance, a song, or the very first word of the show – then see it onstage at the show’s premiere at PS122 in April, 2008. Get in on the ground floor of the largest collaboration in theatre history!

The evening will feature the talents of DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA performers Okwui Okpokwasili, Tony Torn, and Philippa Kaye, a live auction, and a brand new song by Stew and The Negro Problem. Each ticket-buyer will also be able to write one line of text, to be included in the final piece.

MORE ABOUT DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA…

We’re selling the right to decide what should be in our show.
In fact, we’re going further: our entire budget comes from what we sell. The whole event is powered by your purchases. If you don’t buy, the set doesn’t get built, the lights don’t go on, and the actors don’t get paid. Furthermore, if you don’t buy, there is no performance: no words, no actions, no design, no nothing – just a loooong silence in the dark. With your participation, The Foundry Theatre and Annie Dorsen will premiere DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA at PS122 from April 1 – 20, 2008.

Skeptical? This is how it works…
From November 26, 2007 through February 14, 2008, anyone may visit www.buydemocracy.com and buy any item listed for sale – or any item that is NOT listed. Our suggested items are only that: suggestions – we hope and expect that people will have many ideas that we haven’t thought of. We guarantee that every purchase will be incorporated into the performance (limited only by what is safe and legal). We won’t create anything of our own unless it’s absolutely necessary. After the selling period is complete, we’ll work with all the material that people have paid for to create a full-length performance collage.

What kinds of things can be bought?
Anything and everything that can be imagined. Buy the inclusion of a strobe light, a song, a dance, a kiss, a cartwheel, a painting, a poster, a video of your high school prom. Maybe you’re looking to send a special message to someone you love – or send an even more special message to someone you used to love. Want to warn an audience about an impending ecological disaster? Or perhaps you’d just like to remind us all that Jesus saves. Whether you have a recurring dream that you’d like told to a group of avid listeners, or you’re looking for a unique form of advertising, or you’d just like to hear your name mentioned in a play, DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Words, actions, design elements…literally anything that can go into a performance is for sale. And we mean anything.