Excavating the Rising Star
an original immersive documentary theatre production exploring science, technology, and the ethics of being human
"In 2013 and 2018, nine women in the field of paleoanthropology – dubbed the “Underground Astronauts” – were selected to excavate potential hominid fossils deep within the Dinaledi Cave System at the Cradle of Humankind outside Johannesburg, South Africa. To the surprise of the entire world, the excavation yielded 15 full skeletons of a new hominid species, Homo naledi, rewriting the human evolutionary timeline as we know it. In their newest documentary theater play, Excavating The Rising Star, Infinite Variety Productions (IVP) examines how that 21 day excavation revealed more than just a “new” human.
Set in a futuristic museum with AI technology, and using interviews from six of the nine “Astronauts,” (conducted by playwright Ashley Adelman) IVP immerses its audience within the real-life events of the excavation, and in the individual journeys of the women who lived it. From the elation of being selected, social media scrutiny, “rustic” living conditions, and the rigors of climbing through and working in an underground cave system, IVP composes a script that ponders who authors what we read in the history books, whose voices are included (or excluded), how societal lenses shape our understanding of the past and what does it mean to be “human?”
An original production from Infinite Variety Productions
Written by Ash Singer
Script editors/consultants: Marie Davis, Bree O’Connor, Kelly Teaford & Kate Szekely
Based on interviews of Keneiloe Molopyane, Hannah Morris, Marina Elliot, Becca Peixotto, Alia Gurtov & Elen Feuerriegel as conducted by Ashley Adelman
Production History
2019: IVP Founder Ashley Adelman was given an article about these women called “The Underground Astronauts.” She then reached out to one of the Astronauts and made plans to go to South Africa in the summer of 2020.
2020: COVID-19 derails original plans. Ashley continued interviewing from home via Zoom. I was separated from humanity, only having conversations over Zoom. The pandemic brought the nature of the interviews into new places. Instead of a play simply about archaeology, the death, fear and isolation encompassing the world brought up questions about humanity, loneliness, identities, death and a want to explore the question, “what makes us human?”
January 2021: The workshop process begins through examining one of the oral histories with three actors and one director, looking for possible themes and questions.
Spring 2021: Two more interviews are added and explored, keeping the threads of the emerging themes and potential narrative structure in mind. We are plagued by the question, “How can we tell the journey of these women, but how do the fossils get involved?” And, an even broader question: “how can we examine all of humanity through the microcosm of this story?”
Summer 2021: Siri presents the solution to our problems. Ashley asked Siri a question and it did not recognize her voice, resulting in the added fictional element of the AI. The script continues to develop through regular Zoom meetings between the playwright and script collaborators.
Spring 2022: A three-week workshop at the Kraine Theater, directed by Kate Szekely. Staging begins and script alterations occur in real time. A public-facing exhibition occurs on April 2nd, courtesy of a Creative Opportunity Grant from A.R.T./NY.
Fall 2022: A two month workshop, directed by Bree O’Connor, puts the finishing touches on the script.
Spring 2023: A workshopped production of Excavating the Rising Star at the EstroGenius Festival at Under St. Mark’s Theater in lower Manhattan. Directed by Bree O’Connnor. Featuring Marie Donna Davis, Asuka Morinaga Derfler, Riley McMillan, Lauren Lindsey White, Maria Isabella Rojas, Shira Bouskila, and Ashley Adelman. Technical Direction by Hadley Todoran.
Fall 2023: Excavating receives two grants from the Bronx Arts Council for a workshopped production in collaboration with the Bronx Music Heritage Center. Two public staged readings happened on November 18th & 19th, 2024 at BMHC.