tAfter Orson Wells' radio drama welded a few years after the Americans thought they had landed in New Jersey, Wisconsin citizens were led to believe that there had been a Russian invasion on May 1, 1950. This was probably due to fear that people were not taking the communist threat from Stalin's Soviet Union to Truman's America seriously enough.
On Mayday in that Midwest in the mid-20th century, the town's mayor and police chief were dragged out of bed by “red,” and the library removed the destructive text and diner menu, potato soup and black bread, which had replaced the regular meat and sweets. This was a sham exercise, but the actual local leaders were dead by the end.
The fake acquisition is a true story, but the records are rough. So, the Mosinee Project, a work of three actors created by the counterfactual company, quickly moves from research (recorded interviews with living witnesses) to speculation through imaginary rehearsals of several scenes and multiple versions of rehearsals.
Attractively, the two creators of the mock profession are former communists in themselves, and author director Nikhil Vyas was able to enjoy the idea of whether disguise could transform from lies to life. Maybe some Wisconsin Republicans are just too enthusiastically in Comey cosplay? Is one of the former reds pretending to embrace American democracy?
The three actors – Camila Amber, Jonathan Oldfield and Martha Watson Allpress – play multiple roles with impressive fluidity in nationality and gender. When the reality of “red horror” is once again the subject of discussion in Europe, the Mosine Project has local resonances as well as its historical appeal. But I'm unhappy about not knowing what actually happened. This funny 70-minute exercise on a real-life level may lead us to other sources of the story, and may explore counterfactuals more fully fictional narratives.
