Star Finch

Shipping & Handling is a theatrical experience constructed as a night out at the theatre told in reverse.  The playwright shuffles chronology in order to scramble our historical expectations around Black plays, and unmap our limited vision of a future AI world. Are creations always a reflection of their creator? Can an AI bear witness to divine prophecy? Shipping & Handling seeks to transmit a signal for locating the tone of what it means to be human in this specific moment, and collectively reimagine our future design.

A revolutionary world premiere from Crowded Fire & Campo Santo’s Playwright In Residence, Star Finch, Shipping & Handling explores how our humanity will be measured within the soon to be robotic-reality. As an audience member, you’ll start at a moment in time and move back; from an afterparty with actors, to a playwright’s experimental talkback, to the performance of the play you’ve been hearing all about, a surreal and beautiful future vision from a Black Feminine gaze. 

Engagement Events

Reimagining & Grounding the Future: A Fireside Chat with the Revolutionary Researchers Guiding the Next Steps for Artificial Intelligence

Friday, August 30th, 7pm
Live in the Magic Theatre Lobby; livestreamed on Instagram

Watch the panel recording on Instagram here!

Is AI a true reflection of its creator? | Alex Hanna, the Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), and fellow researcher Adrienne Williams will share their thought-provoking research on bias in artificial intelligence. This enlightening discussion, moderated by Director & Dramaturg Leigh Rondon-Davis will help us collectively imagine a new relationship with this technology for the future. Livestreamed on Instagram and held in-person at the Magic Theatre!

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Double Feature Day with CFT & Magic Theatre: “Better than Barbenheimer!”

Saturday, August 31st, 3pm
Live at the Magic Theatre

Spend an extraordinary day at the theatre with performances and a special event from Crowded Fire and Magic Theatre! On August 31st at 3:00pm, we’re kicking things off with a performance of Crowded Fire Theater’s Shipping & Handling by Star Finch. What’s next? Well, that’s up to you! Choose between a sumptuous dinner at Fort Mason’s award-winning eateries Greens or Radhaus, with 10% off your meal, then join us for a lively Happy Hour in the Magic lobby, including a performance by Mimi Tempestt at 7:30pm. The evening continues just across the hall with a captivating performance of Magic’s Richard II at 8:00pm!

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Writing Portals to Possibilities: Playwrights Foundation Night at Crowded Fire’s Shipping and Handling

Thursday, September 5th, 6:15pm
Live at the Magic Theatre, followed by the 8pm performance of Shipping & Handling

As AI continues to dominate news headlines, the narrative around how it will shape our future can feel inescapable. But who gets to imagine what our future looks like? Playwrights and storytellers have long been engineers of new worlds. If the raw material AI mines is our thoughts, our emotions, and our stories–all the things that make us human–how can we decentralize it in our vision for the future through artistic imagination? Can opening the page open us to new possibilities?

Join Playwrights Foundation and Crowded Fire for a reception and conversation with playwrights Jon Bernson,  Eugenie Chan, Leigh M. Marshall, and Star Finch as they delve into their approaches to imagining portals to new worlds and new futures. This event will be moderated by Playwrights Foundation Artistic Producer, AeJay Mitchell. 

About the Playwright

Star Finch (she/her) is a homegrown San Franciscan trying her best to hold ground amidst the erasure of gentrification. She is currently the Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence at Campo Santo and Crowded Fire Theater. She’s an alumni of the Resident Playwrights Program (2018-2022) at Playwrights Foundation, where she also received an inaugural Playwrights Foundation Launch Award recognizing her career’s dynamic liftoff in the Bay Area in 2023.

Finch’s plays include H.O.M.E. [Hookers on Mars Eventually], BONDAGE (Relentless Award honorable mention), and JOSEPHINE’S FEAST. Her multidisciplinary collaborations include Campo Santo’s ETHOS DE MASQUERADE (with Global Street Dance Masquerade) and Crowded Fire’s DEATH BECOME LIFE (with Ensemble Mik Nawooj and AXIS Dance Company). In 2023 her play BONDAGE had its regional premiere at the Undermain Theatre in Dallas, TX.

Featuring:

Nova / Attendant Time: Tierra Allen
Playwright: Rolanda D. Bell  ◼
Malika / Doctor Mother-Mercy: Cat Brooks ◼
Chloe, Internal Swing – Indigo: Jamella Cross ◼ 
August / Conductor-7: Andre K. Jefferson ◼ 
Indigo: Davia Spain 
Alani / Assessor-7: Jasmine Williams
Dancer, Internal Swing – Nova / Attendant Time: hodari blue
Understudy – Doctor Mother-Mercy: Rezan Asfaw
Understudy – Alani / Assessor-7: Sundiata Ayinde 
Understudy – Chloe / Playwright: Jessica Dim
Understudy – August / Assessor-7: Jerome White

◼ Member of Actors’ Equity Association / SAG-AFTRA

Director: Lisa Marie Rollins
Director & Dramaturg: Leigh Rondon-Davis ★
Stage Manager: Rachel Mogan ★
Assistant Stage Manager: Latiece Brown
Scenic Designer: Tanya Orellana
Props & Associate Scenic Designer: Ashley Méndez
Costume Designer: Brooke Jennings
Hair & Wigs Designer: Monyé Durham
Make-Up Designer: Carla Grace Fajardo
Lighting Designer: Ray Oppenheimer 
Sound Designer: Miles Lassi
Associate Sound Designer: Alex Fakayode
Video & Projections Designer: Wolfgang Lancelot Wachalovsky
Scenic Builder: Beckett Finn

★ Crowded Fire Resident Artist