Jeonghyeon Joo
composer | haegeum performer
The ATOMIC War: a cloud is best measured when it is up is a bold play fusing rigorous text with striking visual composition, exploring humanity’s spiritual and political descent in an era of digital overload and demagogues hungry for divine power. Inspired by the Book of Enoch and the tale of the Watchers, it unfolds through surreal scenes: a fallen Angel descends to Earth, impregnates a woman, and produces Jones, a monstrous cult figure spiraling through spectacle and collapse. While American theater has often sidelined abstraction since the 80s in favor of narrative realism, a resurgence in the late 90s and 2000s from artists like Mac Wellman, Rude Mechs, Radiohole, Elevator Repair Service, and Richard Maxwell—whose work such as Queens Row turns minimalist language and stillness into deeply abstract theatrical events—signals its renewed relevance.
Produced by Monk Parrots.