Événement

White Noise

Artist and writer Tom Block's first play White Noise follows an African-American painter whose work is based on spiritual themes, as he travels to Detroit for an art exhibit of his work. At first calm, mature and erudite, Tim meets a seemingly normal cast of characters, who are volunteers with the church arts committee where Tim is to exhibit his paintings.
However, all of them from the hidden poet Lilac, cultural ambassador and psychically injured Sally and ex-Northrup Grumman Vice President Dick to the oversexed marriage therapist Joan, tweak at his interior demons. Tim struggles with and then succumbs to his own fixations, as an increasingly bizarre exterior reality and a scantily-clad Simone Weil, a historical figure that metastasizes as a figment of his own imagination, close in on him. Having abandoned true faith, Tim grasps for "faith in faith," and in the end finds dubious understanding, alone in a bathroom.

The play runs 80 minutes with no intermission.

White Noise has received numerous readings. It was read by Calliope Theater Company (MD) and directed by the Maryland State Playwright in Residence (John Morogiello) at the Writer's Center in Bethesda (2008). It has also been read at the Hamiltonian Gallery (DC), by Stroyka Theater Company (2009), Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival (MD) by Wanderlust Theater Company (2010) and at the Kennedy Center (DC) "Page to Stage" Theater Festival by Wanderlust Theater Company (2010).

White Noise was chosen as one of "5 readings you should see at the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage Festival" (Maura Judkis, TBD Arts).
It was also picked as one of three to watch by "DailyCandy."

The play is the first of a trilogy exploring the intersection between human spiritual urges and contemporary society. "The Prophet," which takes place in a suburban living room off of Western Ave. in Washington D.C., is finished and will receive its first reading this fall. "Night Out in Spain" is currently in draft form.

White Noise is being produced in conjunction with the exhibit of Mr. Block's most recent artwork, two large-scale paintings (6' x 25' each) which visually represent the psychic experience of Tim, as he descends from the erudition of his public image into the reality of his spiritual confusion.
For full information about Tom Block's work, please visit www.tomblock.com.