In November, off the back of a successful 9th Season in South Africa, The Centre for the Less Good Idea travelled to Milwaukee, USA to present three original works developed at The Centre.

Upon invitation by Milwaukee’s Warehouse Art Museum (WAM), which was also host to See for Yourself, a solo exhibition of William Kentridge’s work, The Centre staged three one-act plays – An Outpost of Progress, Mayakovsky, and A Hunger Artist – at the Broadway Theatre Center.

While Outpost of Progress and Mayakovsky were performed inside a custom-built Pepper’s Ghost inside of a black box theatre, A Hunger Artist was performed front of stage. All three pieces carried the related narrative threads of literature, postcoloniality, and the embodiment of text.

Importantly, this was the first time that the Pepper’s Ghost was performed internationally, and proved the mobility of the Pepper’s Ghost as a theatrical device, as well as a methodology for making original work that resonates very strongly outside of The Centre. As a result, the Centre’s Pepper’s Ghost works have continued to travel and tour internationally.

The Centre is hugely grateful to WAM co-founders Jan Serr and John Shannon for the invitation to share our artistic processes and ways of working with new audiences.