A Community Rebuilt by a Tornado

In ALiEN8, an alien who only speaks in gestures appears in a Midwestern town after a tornado. The town's citizens find their emotions, as well as their homes turned upside down, a they are forced to acknowledge a shared dark past. This production evoked the sense that everyone knows everything that happens in a small town by placing the action entirely within a public space--the school gym. The "mats" hung on the back wall shifted under light, becoming the stained glass of the church, the swirls of a purple tornado, or a reflection of the energy given off by the town.