"It's now the sixth of August 1945.
She is alone.
god, my head.
At 8:15 in the morning, everything is quiet.
The house is still.
Thirty-one thousand feet above her, there is a single aircraft.
In forty-three seconds, the bomb it has released will have fallen twenty-nine thousand feet and will detonate above the city.
In forty-four seconds, seventy thousand people will be dead.
and the world turns."
That excerpt is from playwright Nick Gill's Sand, a new work that combines fiction, science and history to explore the development of nuclear weapons — and the subsequent devastation they bring.
And in a limited run — from March 28-30 — Cincinnati audiences can catch it at Over-the-Rhine's Know Theatre through a solo performance by Andrew J. Hungerford, the theatre's producing artistic director.
Described in a press release as a "fractured collection of narratives" that spans a century, it examines the experiences of a dozen women before "building to an inevitable breaking point."
In the end, everything collapses.
Hungerford only read the script a few weeks ago, he notes in a press release, adding that he instantly knew that Know needed to produce it.
"For one, it's a perfect fit for the SecondStage of our season examining fear itself," he says. "From a personal perspective, I was plagued by nightmares and anxiety attacks about nuclear war as a kid growing up at the tail end of the cold war... In the '90s, it felt like the world began to come to its collective senses as disarmament began to take hold. But now as non-proliferation treaties are scrapped, as countries ramp up missile production and nuclear programs, it's vital for us to consider the ramifications of those choices, to take a hard look at the nuclear powder keg our modern world sits atop."
Hungerford hasn't performed in nearly a decade; his last performance was during 2010's Fringe Festival, where he played a role in Of People and Not Things. Aside from his dramatic role in Sand, Hungerford will also helm the scenic and lighting design.
Brant Russell — who directed Know's production of The Man-Beast earlier this season — will take the reins on this "script-in-hand" staging of the show, which will mark its U.S. premiere.
Prior, a version of Sand was shown in 2013 at The Royal Court Theatre in London, directed by Vicky Featherstone and performed by Eileen Walsh and Toby Jones.
For more info/tickets visit knowtheatre.com or call 513-300-5669.
