THE STORY

“Numb. Numb to this new society. Numb to myself. 

I can barely remember the reason it got me here.”

This is the story of an immigrant whose life made many choices for him. His motivation and identity was crushed by the pressure of reality. One day, he falls asleep in front of the TV, and we witness his inner child come to life for a moment of freedom. The child crosses paths with a huge creature and embarks on a journey to help the creature find its missing pieces in different corners of its community. During this journey he awakens to pieces he has lost himself.  

Each discovery tells a story and creates a connection. And with each new connection, the creature and protagonist reconnect with a piece of themselves.

The initial inspiration for this piece is the story The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan.

THE VISION

Dawn Theatre Project is dedicated to communicating internal emotion through devising, dynamic physicality and imaginative visual storytelling. 

We strive for crossing cultural barriers between audience and performers and empowering marginalized communities. For this goal we incubate different languages that can lead to this story-sharing, including physical movement, visual, tactile, oral and written forms of expression. 

The production of Lost and Found will be our debut production as a company. 

Our research consists of interviewing refugees and studying the process of asylum to understand the challenges a person faces when building a new life in the United States. We are focusing on the community of migrants in Rogers Park and surroundings.  

The main question this piece asks is: In what ways do refugees and migrants feel they have agency in their lives? 

How do different migrants allow their past to be part of their present journey?

We imagine a metaphorical space that resembles boxes someone left unpacked, of someone neglecting or their present transforming into a space that opens up; that shows who this person is and how she is connected to others. Lastly, the show, Lost and Found, will be presented at the Indiana Boundary Park free to the public. 

DTP, in collaboration with Indian Boundary Park, have designed a 4-workshop package using visual art, found object puppets, and physical activities to invite the local immigrants/refugees of Rogers Park to share their stories and explore the challenges and victories of their journey.

The workshop explores the question: “In what ways do we feel that we have agency in our lives?”

* The stories will not be translated directly into the show–we will only use them as inspiration when/if we have consent from the participants. 

After the community workshop, we move into rehearsal with the artist team. 

The first version of the show Lost and Found will be presented at the Indiana Boundary Park free to the public. 

Further development and productions for this piece will follow.

Chih-Jou Cheng - Director / Choreographer 

Daphne Agosin - Set and Lighting Designer 

Grace Needlman - Puppet Designer and Puppeteer 

Eme Ospina-López - Projection Designer

We Need Your Support!

Aside from donating (and THANK YOU) please share this page with anyone you think would be interested in donating. The more, the merrier! Follow @dawntheatreproject on Instagram for pictures and videos from the set, workshops and rehearsals and more.

You can learn more about Chih-Jou Cheng here.

Dawn Theatre Project is a sponsored organization of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Lost and Found must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.