|
Published April 5, 2004; Category: EVENTS
Hop and Tuck collaborate to host unusual play
Alladeen, a new large-scale, multimedia play, examines how cultures borrow, steal and reinterpret each other's icons and images in the new global economy. Customer-service call centers of well-known American companies are increasingly outsourced to south Asian countries where natives adopt "typical American" identities, often based on television sitcoms, in order to serve U.S. customers.
 The play Alladeen examines the practice of call center employees in India "borrowing" U.S. identities in order to more successfully deal with American customers on the phone. Performances are April 9 and 10. The production and related events are a collaboration between the Hopkins Center and the Tuck School of Business.(photo courtesy of the Hopkins Center
|
Alladeen was created jointly by The Builders Association, a New York City experimental theater company, and motiroti, a London-based new media-performance collective.
The Hopkins Center has joined Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business to present two additional events that explore the issue of outsourcing and how this hot-button topic of cultural, economic and political interest came to be considered through a theatrical production. On Tuesday, April 6, a panel discussion, "Inside Outsourcing," at 4:30 p.m. in Cohen Great Hall, Whittemore Hall, examines the business, social and ethical implications of outsourcing to developing nations; and at 7 p.m. in Stoneman Classroom, Murdough Center, "Burning the Midnight Oil: The Making of Alladeen," offers an inside look at the creation of this cross-cultural theater work. Both events are free and open to the public. For more information call 646-2010.
The panel "Inside Outsourcing" is moderated by Tuck Professor Paul Argenti. Panelists are Jack Freker, President of Convergys's Customer Management Group; Paul Gaffney, Executive Vice President, Supply Chain at Staples, Inc.; Keith Khan, a co-creator of Alladeen and founder and Artistic Director of motiroti, an arts-led company which works with people and new technology; and Sonal Shah, Associate Director for Economic and Foreign Policy at the Center for American Progress.
"Today's artists are exploring globalism in fascinating ways, increasingly reaching far beyond national and ethnic borders."
- Margaret Lawrence
|
"Today's artists are exploring globalism in fascinating ways, increasingly reaching far beyond national and ethnic borders," says Hopkins Center Director of Programming Margaret Lawrence. "They're often on the vanguard as new political and social issues come to the fore."
"This is an unusual and interesting collaboration between the arts and business," says Hans BrechbŸhl, Executive Director of Tuck's Center for Digital Strategies. "This evening on offshore outsourcing is reflective of a topic that incorporates business, cross-cultural, social, economic and even ethical issues."
Directed by Marianne Weems, Alladeen features live theater, hi-tech video, electronic music and spectacle in an examination of how technology and globalization impact human beings in the worldwide marketplace. In the surreal call centers in Bangalore, India, Asian phone operators are trained by studying American accent and modulation, tele-etiquette and popular culture, in order to pass as Americans and serve customers from the United States. In a world where virtual relationships are possible, Alladeen questions the ethics and ramifications of corporate outsourcing and how it affects our global society.
Performances of Alladeen will take place in The Moore Theater at 8 p.m. Friday, April 9, and Saturday, April 10. A spotlight discussion with cast members will follow each performance. Admission is $28 for reserved seats and $5 for Dartmouth students. For more information call 646-2422.
By ROLF OLSEN AND SHELBY THOMPSON
PERFORMANCES
- 8 p.m. Friday, April 9
- 8 p.m. Saturday, April 10
- Moore Theater
- $28, Dartmouth students $5
- 646-2422
|
RSS/XML Feed