Outdoor screening in the parking lot adjacent to the Strand Theatre
Meet Helen, a custodian at the Metropolitan Museum. She bristles when she finds that a plastic cup has been left by a museum-goer next to one of the august Greek antiquities. When Helen's shift ends, she takes the cup with her, and thoughtfully gathers other litter as she journeys home. We follow Helen's trash on an ironic and imaginative journey through time, and are challenged to consider how we (and our plastic) might be misinterpreted by future generations.
Director: Robin Frohardt
Recommended for audiences ages 8-108
Duration: 60 minutes
BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair)
Rain Location: Indoors at the Strand (Masks required for indoor screenings)
TICKETS: $10/General Admission
PLUS!!!
Join us for PLASTIC BAG FASHION: Workshop & Runway
Create some fast fashion with recycled plastic bags! Artist Kim Bernard will inspire participants to conceive and construct upcycled wearables, adornments and accessories using colorful plastic bags, tape and hot glue. Participants are invited to model their upcycled wearables (or have a friend model) at the Plastic Bag Fashion Runway, immediately prior to the PLASTIC BAG STORE: THE FILM screening at 8pm. Free Admission (no registration necessary), all materials will be provided, and all ages welcome. AND, you'll get free admission to the film screening!
More About the Film
PLASTIC BAG STORE: THE FILM is based on Robin Frohardt's site-specific installation-cum-puppetry-show of the same name, an idea she had been developing with an ensemble of creative collaborators since 2015, with support from Creative Capital, Carolina Performing Arts, and architectural firm Olson Kundig.
Designed to look like a real grocery store and set in a storefront, visitors are quickly confronted with the fact that all the products are actually made from recycled plastic bags and single use plastics, harvested from the garbage bins of New York City.
In 2019, Pomegranate Arts took on the challenge of realizing this ambitious project. Together with Frohardt, they partnered with lead commissioner Times Square Arts for a major March 2020 New York premiere of the installation in the heart of New York’s Times Square. It was a dream come true, but one quickly dashed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project had one magical dress rehearsal for an audience of friends, and then indefinitely the doors to the Store were locked.
The decision to make a film transformed Frohardt's vision for the project: “I never imagined how perfectly the medium of film would capture the story as I see it in my head. We found a way to integrate the film into the installation for a hybrid live experience... which has made The Plastic Bag Store viable in these unique times."
The Plastic Bag Store has since toured in its reimagined hybrid version, as the only international project invited to the 2021 Adelaide Festival, to Los Angeles with UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (2021), to Chicago as a part of the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival (2022), and to Austin, TX with Texas Performing Arts (2022).
www.plasticbagstore.org
www.pomegranatearts.com/
