NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) presents Herb Alpert for a

preview of "Shopping Center of the Universe."

 

Award-winner Robin Frohardt, whose multimedia experience "The Plastic Bag Store" was at the museum in 2024, returns to the museum for a preview of "Shopping Center of the Universe," a theatrical work of speculative nonfiction. 

 

The preview will be held on Feb. 20, at 7 pm

 

According to a press release: 

 

This new work in development, grounded in reality yet deeply reflective, offers a poetic meditationon our relationship with the natural world. Blending puppetry, prose, live music, and intricate handmade sets, Frohardt gives shape to the cultural and personal grief she has experienced growing up surrounded by big box stores. Frohardt reframes the parking lot as part of the ecosystem, rather than separate from it: tree roots break through asphalt, condensation from an air conditioner wears a hole in a sidewalk, and a flock of birds crash-lands, mistaking the lights on the pavement for the surface of water. This genre-defying, live-cinema project is Frohardt's innovative attempt to reconcile the predicament of being born a soul in a body raised in Walmart.

 

Tickets are $34 for students, $44 advance, $54 week-of, $74 preferred; members receive 10 percent off