Strange Bird Productions
Presents

2020: A FANTASY
By Raven Petretti-Stamper

October 16 - 20, 2019

Theatre 54 inside Shetler Studios
244 West 54th Street, 12th Floor between Broadway and 8th Avenue, NYC
Tickets: www.StrangeBirdProductions.com

Directed by KEN WOLF
Stage Manager DANIELLE WESSLER
Press Representative SCOTTI RHODES

Cast
Gabrielle Wagner – Timothy Babcock

Raven Petretti-Stamper’s 2020: A FANTASY is a dark satire that looks at the 2020 U.S. presidential election through the lens of one couple who consider themselves a modern Carville and Matalin for being together in spite of differing political views. Set in a universe in which Trump is no longer president, opposing parties are literally at war, and the couple initially appear to be role-playing to distract from the chaos around them, fantasy is the key word in the title of this play.

The entirety of the action of 2020: A FANTASY takes place in a bomb shelter between the couple, Rebecca (Gabrielle Wagner) and Greg (Timothy Babcock). At first it seems like they are engaging in spirited sparring, almost like courting, as the bombs go off around them. That soon takes a more sinister twist.

Rebecca has the highest of political ambitions, to be president, and Greg has a rule-book for how she should behave as a woman. In between fighting over their respective democratic and republican beliefs, there is much taunting (including with a can of Spam), and debate about acceptable roles. It is revealed through the course of 75 or so minutes that they have been married for five years. Their seeming disdain for one another makes them appear more like one of those couples that has secretly hated one another for 20 years or more, as she ends up locked in a cell, and he refuses to let her out for the majority of the performance.

At the end of 2020: A FANTASY, the odd evolution that the electoral process has undergone is revealed. While not the conclusion one might expect from the events leading up to that point, this is ultimately satire, and as the title implies, fantasy.

- Kessa De Santis -