About the Show

Part three of Karen Hartman's American caste cycle about social mobility and the law.

Two sisters, one a folk-hero professor, fight for human connection as they go up against a big-brother of a tech corporation in a cyber-dystopian era not too far off from our own. With our most intimate relationships and communication at stake, the sisters will lead their own human revolution in a technological age.

The production is part of 59E59 Theaters' inaugural VOLT Festival, which this year celebrates the work of playwright Karen Hartman.

This is the world premiere of the play.

Critic Reviews (2)

"The art of dystopian literature can be found in the pathway one suggests from the world of today, and Hartman charts one that is eminently plausible. It involves crushing debt legally transformed into a new age of indentured servitude, with free citizens and their consumer choices becoming the product harvested and sold by multinational tech firms (this part is already true)."
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Time and again, stories about what the future holds for technology and humanity have enthralled audiences—think of the rabid followings for The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror, produced 50 years apart. But whereas those TV shows grabbed viewers with suspense, plot twists and amusing allegory, New Golden Age mainly offers talking. More than three-quarters of its run time is occupied by one long scene, and it consists mostly of people standing around talking. That tedium outweighs any emotional reaction that Karen Hartman’s Facebook-run-amok scenario may elicit.
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Trailer

Creative team