Youarenowhere

Youarenowhere: Theater review by Helen Shaw

A weird hybrid of an inspirational seminar, confessional one-man show, introductory lecture on relativity and visually gorgeous prediction of what will happen when the machines take over, Andrew Schneider's stunning Youarenowhere is a tour de force—both of acting and design. (In fact, it may be the first show that has truly, fully integrated the two.) Schneider, shirtless, with his face powdered white, seems to have grafted his nervous system directly into the lights. He twitches, and great, absurd, room-filling splashes of color appear and disappear; lightning-quick blackouts play odd tricks, deranging our time-sense. Schneider himself moves and speaks so quickly he seems to be flickering back to us from the future, blessing someone before they sneeze, even showing us the ending of his piece long before the coup-de-theatre that will implement it. Connoisseurs of process-oriented, short-form programming like Catch may have seen this work in snippets, but this is your first chance in a very long time to see a completed Schneider. Getting to see what his wicked, febrile mind has been up to is thrilling and happens but once a half-decade. It's like Brigadoon, people. Don't miss it.—Helen Shaw