written and directed by John Heimbuch
May 7 – 29, 2010
People’s Center Theater
Thank you for purchasing the CX9 Intertemporal Transportation Device. You will be with you shortly.
When a visit from her future self sends Sophie on a journey to the ends of reality, she must choose whether to repair her relationship or time itself. A science fiction adventure of love, technology, and betrayal. How far will you go to get back what you once had?
Cast
Production Team
| savien mercure | Alan Sorenson | writer/director | John Heimbuch |
| eleanor morgan | Jean Wolff | set | Andrea Heilman |
| sophie evanson | Melissa Anne Murphy | costumes | E. Amy Hill |
| peter logan | Sid Solomon | lighting | Paul Epton |
| quentin sparr | Randy Schmeling | sound | Michael Croswell |
| renee goddard | Anna Sundberg | props | Kristin Larsen |
| courier, enforcer, etc. | Christopher Bauleke | stage manager | Sarah Holmberg |
| Celeste Busa | technical director | Ian Commins | |
| Andrew Northrop | assistant director | Justin Alexander | |
| Shannon Troy Jones | dramaturg | Sarah Slight | |
| fight choreographer | Brian Hesser | ||
| dance choreographer | Tracy Vacura | ||
| firearm expert | Richard Eue | ||
| technology design | Sarah Holmberg | ||
| video operator | Anna Reichert | ||
| french lang. coach | Elly B. Grzesiak | ||
| photography | Dan Norman |
Reviews
“Time travel stories often find characters encountering past or present versions of themselves, witnessing key decisions or incidents that impact their future trajectory. On film and television, these seemingly impossible scenes become believable thanks to technology that lets the viewer see the both the future and present version of the character in the same shot. On stage, the same effect is more difficult to accomplish. With capable actors and a well-thought-out script, Walking Shadow’s world premiere of John Heimbuch’s The Transdimensional Couriers Union is able to perform the feat and take audience members on an intense, time-traveling sci-fi ride.
Opening this past weekend, The Transdimensional Couriers Union — named for a futuristic group of travelers who deliver packages to various points in time — follows the story of two lovers who unwillingly get swept into a dangerous cross-generation race to save the future… the piece, which Heimbuch also directs, is told in a non-linear fashion. It’s sort of a Back-to-the-Future-meets-Memento hybrid in which audience members are challenged to piece together scenes, creating a narrative that isn’t always so obvious…
Like all great pieces of (science) fiction, it raises questions about humanity, our emotions, and our limitations. That these questions hinge on time travel is a welcome, and admittedly geeky, bonus.”
— Becca Mitchell, TC Daily Planet
“Having caught opening night of Walking Shadow’s The Transdimensional Couriers Union last Friday, the mind still reels with the satisfying complexity of John Heimbuch’s script. This time-travel adventure hurls six characters back and forth across centuries, meeting one another at various points along their particular time-lines. Amazingly, it all makes sense, and makes for a very fine play.
…this is top-notch science fiction. Heimbuch manages to answer both the question of 2012 prophesies and why time travelers from the future haven’t visited us (if either of these topics have intrigued you, you need to get out to see this show). And niftiest of all, the story works both on the human level as well as the speculative (the sci-fi Holy Grail).
Over the weekend, former Fringe Festival director and current head of the Minnesota Theater Alliance Leah Cooper tweeted: ‘Transdimensional Couriers Union. I’m a closet sci-fi dork, and this was the smartest sci-fi ever. Also a damn great show.'”
— Quinton Skinner, City Pages
“…I believe that the desire to put events in chronological order is not a desire exclusive to the nerd population; it’s a basic human desire. We live in a world where cause precedes effect. That’s how we think. That’s what we’re used to in our day-to-day lives. It’s comfortable. It’s home. That being the case, it takes a special thinker to be able to imagine a world where these rules don’t necessarily apply. It takes an even more uncommon talent to be able to craft a narrative that thrives on that exploration—and make it an engaging and accessible piece of theater. TDCU author John Heimbuch is completely at home here.
The Transdimensional Couriers Union opens with a young couple getting ready for work. When he leaves, she gets a strange call from someone she doesn’t know. Then the young man re-enters, in different clothes, claiming he’s from the future. He gets her to hide in a closet just moments before she herself re-enters–from the future to kill Future Him. This simple yet mind-blowing scene sets off a whirlpool of time-jumping and future/past/present versions of people that come and go and swirl around as if this play had 18 actors instead of just six actors. (Technically, the production was nearly flawless with scene and costume changes easing the audience through this spinning story.)”
— Nicholas Leeman, Minnesota Playlist
