Composer Darcy James Argue, writer and director Isaac Butler, and film designer Peter Negrini discuss the American fascination with conspiracy theories, which fuels their immersive, multimedia work Real Enemies. Packed with plots and paranoia, Real Enemies features a performance by an eighteen-piece band accompanied by video and text. The piece was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and named one of the top ten live events of 2015 by the New York Times. The talk is moderated by Jeffrey MacKie-Mason, university librarian, chief digital scholarship officer, and professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information.

Vancouver-born, Brooklyn-based, Grammy-nominated composer and bandleader Argue has toured nationally and internationally with his eighteen-piece ensemble, Secret Society, garnering countless awards and nominations and reimagining what a twenty-first-century big band can sound like.

Butler holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of Minnesota, and his writing has appeared in the Guardian, Slate, American Theatre, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and other publications. He lives in Brooklyn.

Negrini has designed for productions on Broadway and at the New York City Opera, the Lincoln Center Festival, and numerous other venues.

This event is presented by Cal Performances. 

Participants and topics are subject to change; visit Berkeley Arts + Design (artsdesign.berkeley.edu) for the most up-to-date series information.