Cabur and Cavallini feel it is important to center women’s experiences in this show for a multitude of reasons, not least that they themselves are women navigating the digital divide in their own lives. For example, while the global loneliness epidemic is not limited to women, over half of the 142 countries polled in a recent Meta-Gallup survey self-reported a higher rate of loneliness in women than in men, and social media use is an indisputable contributing factor. The < 3 G E N Project will touch on this and other effects of our digital era and intends to start real-life conversations by putting these social phenomena center stage.
The development process for The < 3 G E N Project consists of three parts: data gathering, processing, and staging. Cabur and Cavallini, in collaboration with two other therapists, have developed a questionnaire that will serve as the primary mode of collecting stories. This questionnaire will be disseminated in various formats to make it accessible to as many people as possible, including via this Google Form, in-person interviews, and on TikTok. (Readers are welcomed and encouraged to submit their stories!) Similar to other documentary theatre processes, like Ping Chong’s Undesirable Elements series or work by The Civilians, these interviews will provide an invaluable databank for crafting characters, writing dialogue, and developing the themes present in the show.
The interview is crafted to guide participants on an emotional journey that leaves them feeling closer to their family members than when they started. Cabur says, “Dramatically speaking, it would be better for me, as a playwright, to ask them, ‘Tell me your family secrets, talk to me about your issues with them, do you have any resentments towards them?’ But we’re not doing that, we don’t want them to leave the interview with those feelings.” Instead, the questions prompt respondents to reflect on happy memories with their family members, enforcing the existing ties between them.
Both Cabur and Cavallini see the effects of the digital divide in their personal lives. Living far from her mother and sister, Cabur sees how difficult it can be for her eight-year-old son to develop relationships with family members he primarily visits through a screen. “Instead of technology being something that helps us connect as a family or as a society, it frustrates us as it draws us further apart,” Cabur says. Although Cavallini lives geographically closer to her parents, she still observes how technology preferences between the generations in her family are out of sync, which poses a challenge for closeness. While Cavallini appreciates the speed at which she can communicate information via text while multitasking, for example, her parents still want to talk on the phone. “Their need to use the phone to communicate is a way for me to stop and be present with them,” Cavallini says.
In phase two, Cabur and Cavallini will review the data they’ve gathered and create two byproducts: the show, and a booklet with exercises and activities for women to do with their families to strengthen their bonds. The activities will be tailored to members of each of the three groups: grandmothers, mothers, and daughters. Cabur and Cavallini intend for these tools to be broadly applicable to any women hoping to strengthen their family relationships, not just those who have participated in the interviews or attended the show.
We want to recreate in the theatre the way you experience life in your household. We will create three different worlds, one for each character, and if the audience wants to experience the other two, they can only see them sideways.
Finally, in phase three, Cabur and Cavallini will mount the show, which will be a hybrid live and digital theatre performance. Although they are waiting until they’ve completed the interviews to start developing the characters, they have a clear picture of how the staging will function, with the ambition of centering the Grandmother, Mother, and Daughter all as the main character. In order to do so, a circular stage will be surrounded by three seating banks: one seating bank for all members of the audience closest in age to the Grandmother, one for those closest in age to the Mother, and one for those closest in age to the Daughter. Interspersed between these three seating banks will be three large screens, so that each audience group’s view of the stage will culminate in a sectional screen backdrop.
