Was life better before the digital era? That’s the rhetorical question at the heart of Golden Sands, the immersive, totally analog experience created by Rachel Lichtman. She recently jumped in the car to talk about her upcoming Programme 4: The Affiliate Sales Presentation show at Evanston’s SPACE on May 27th. Described as a station from an alternate timeline that simply never stopped broadcasting, the traveling show forces audiences to sit with media in a way that modern streaming interfaces disrupt. Lichtman notes that our modern “handheld casinos” offer so many options that choice paralysis sets in, torpedoing our attention and severing our cultural connection. I love the fact that these shows rely purely on old-school, word-of-mouth curation to bring people together.
The event is a highly collaborative, scripted performance inspired by the bizarre world of corporate industrial musicals and 1970s television. The performance features a stellar cast of local and national talent, including Chicago media legend Rich Koz, Dag Juhlin, Jon Langford, Kelly Hogan, Joel Murray, Nora O’Connor, and Chris Murphy. Dag brings “Rod Kellogg” to life, a buttoned-up host surrounded by a world of mid-century grooviness he doesn’t quite understand. With custom set designs, a live Rhodes piano providing a nostalgic soundscape, Programme 4 offers a needed, temporary escape from the digital world. I can’t wait. To see the full schedule of upcoming dates, make the scene over at programme4.tv.
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