The Dust
The play presents a series of seemingly unrelated scenes unfolding at what the writer calls the “instant of explosion.” Explosion of a building? Of a city? Of individual lives? A mother meets an estranged son. A professional couple debate what they choose to know about how they will die. A surrogate mother imagines starting a new world with the birth father. The Dust presents fragments of lives hovering on the brink of annihilation, and yet, all these people are doing their very best to move beyond fear to live lives of authentic happiness. Annelise Finnegan’s translation gives Hsu’s beautiful work a clear theatrical voice. First produced in November of 2013 in Taiwan, this is the U.S. premiere of The Dust.
By Hsu Yen Ling
Translation by Annelise Finegan
Directed by William Whitaker
November 17, 18 & 19 at 8 p.m.
November 19 & 20 at 2 p.m.
A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre
Originally commissioned and produced by the Performing Arts Department at Washington University in St. Louis with special permission from and in cooperation with the playwright, Hsu Yen Ling.