Hand2Mouth

We wanted to share a few photos from Rui Dun's "Mama's Emoji" in case you missed it during the New2You Festival of New Works. What a moving story about the distance between bodies separated by migration and the technology that connects them. Thank you, Rui, for your beautiful storytelling!

ABOUT THE SHOW:
Mama’s Emoji begins with a death announcement delivered the modern way: a text from Mom. Bad news, worse emoji. From that tiny glowing screen, a one-person interactive performance was born, diving into the process of grief when family is separated by migration. When oceans separate generations and emotions go unread, what happens to mourning and to all the things left unsaid? Blending dark comedy with quiet devastation, Mama’s Emoji skewers emotional avoidance, inherited silence, and the theater of digital intimacy within Asian families. Does communication break down through technology, or does it expose how bad we’ve always been at it?

Design and Direction by Rachel Zimmerman.

Photos by Sarah Marguier.

Last chance to catch "The Parallax View" by Dylan Hankins and Daye Thomas alongside "KEEPERS" as part of the New2You Festival of New Works tonight at 7:30pm at PICA, 15 NE Hancock St. Don't miss it!

Ticket link: https://www.hand2mouththeatre.org/new2you-2026.

MORE ABOUT THE SHOW
"The Parallax View" is a devised movement and sound performance by Dylan Hankins and Daye Thomas, inspired by Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" and Slavoj Žižek’s philosophy of the split subject. Inside a fragile cardboard world of screens, lemons, and objects (or are they humans?), a man navigates digital solitude, modern masculinity, and synthetic intimacy. There is comfort in curated shadows. The cave is no longer underground. It is handheld. It is personalized. IT learns YOU.

If reality is only ever perspective, what happens when the version of yourself built to survive begins to replace the one that needs connection?

Photos by Sarah Marguier.

"Enter Your Prompt Here " by our Youth Devising Residency Ensemble plays one more time today at 2pm as part of the New2You Festival of New Works.

For more information or tickets, visit https://www.hand2mouththeatre.org/new2you-2026.

ABOUT THE SHOW
The Show you are about to see is
The Show you are about to see is
The Show you are about to see is
An exploration on the long term use of AI on humanity
Ensemble: Turner Cale, Athena Crane, Syla Edelman, Miles Franklin, Addie Grab, Aurelius Lillie, Molly May, Phoenix Nathoo, Mark Perez Siquina. Understudy: Angelo Fernandez.
Directed by: Jenni GreenMiller
Assistant Director; Orion Ellis
Costumes: Max Ratner
Hair&Makeup: Alex QuiggleProduction
Assistant: Natalia Arroyave

Photos by Sarah Marguier

Trick Pony Theatre brings us more laughs tonight with their show SOFT MACHINE! Last chance to catch it as part of the New2You Festival of New Works!

Get your tickets at https://www.hand2mouththeatre.org/new2you-2026.

ABOUT THE SHOW
How do you program humanity? Soft Machine - a newly devised piece from Trick Pony Theatre - invites you to clock in at the latest big tech company, OptiMates™, and see just how an android gets its adenoids. The most advanced mechanical being ever is presented as the answer to all of our most unnecessary tasks such as learning new things, making friends, and falling in love. An interactive, absurd journey into Uncanny Valley where we strive to make machines more like humans and humans more like machines. Who knew outsourcing our soul in pursuit of optimization was funny?

Performed by Adam Fleming and London Bauman.
Directed by Emily Laue.

Photos by Sarah Marguier.