This theatrical performance is a one-of-a-kind experiment in bringing Japanese anime to the stage. Directed by Thomas DeFrantz (Music and Theater Arts), script by Ian Condry (Foreign Languages and Literatures), and starring students, faculty, and members of the MIT community, the show features giant robots, a Japanese schoolgirl, a lovelorn otaku, a masterless samurai, a gamer woman, evil media magnates, a vengeful deathgod and more.
SYNOPSIS: The stage is set for the finals of the giant robot contest at the Mokuba Institute of Technology. But as the two teams prepare for battle, a strange disease called VIRTIGO is sweeping the school, causing unpredictable reality slippages. And it's getting worse. Does it have something to do with Homeland Security's suspicious arrest of undocumented workers? Can our heroes solve the mystery of VIRTIGO, help the workers, and . . . find love?

Don't miss this opportunity to see anime history in the making. Please contact me if you're interested in receiving flyers or posters for the show. Stay tuned for information about a talk related to the show and anime's other flirtations with reality.

Thanks also to the sponsors: the MIT Japan Program, Music and Theater Arts, Foreign Languages and Literatures, Slippage, Cool Japan, and the De Florez Fund for Humor.

Added by Erik Mallinson on October 31, 2007