Two Experimental Plays Explore Consciousness and Time at Artists Space

On a recent Sunday evening, Artists Space in New York hosted 'Monologue Dialogue,' a presentation of two works-in-progress plays that re-examined the theatrical monologue form. The event featured readings of two distinct plays exploring psychological themes. The first play, 'Diagnosis,' was collaboratively written by psychoanalyst Cassandra Seltman and artist Eleanor Ivory Weber. It depicted two characters engaged in a dialogue that gradually revealed they represented split aspects of a single consciousness, using maritime metaphors and fragmented folk sayings. The second play, 'HOTEL ECHO LIMA PAPA' by artist Erika Landström, was a one-woman performance featuring actress Tess Sahara. The title spells 'HELP' using NATO phonetic alphabet. Sahara performed physical movements including feline crouches and airplane stretches while delivering text exploring memory, pain, and dissociation, with interruptions mimicking emergency airplane announcements. Both works used the monologue format to investigate themes of fractured identity, the relationship between thought and speech, and the manipulation of temporal experience. The evening began with audience members receiving juice boxes, adding a nostalgic element to the adult-oriented event. Critics noted these plays transformed the often-criticized monologue into a vehicle for examining present-moment crises and psychological fragmentation.