LAFPI

Blood/Sugar  Created and directed by Diana Wyenn Written by Diana Wyenn and Guy Zimmerman and developed in collaboration with Lauren Campedelli, John Zalewski, Jason H. Thompson, Joey Guthman, Rebecca Carr, Aaron Saldaña, and Laban Pheidias Performed by Diana Wyenn and Laban Pheidias Voiceover by Lauren Campedelli Video design by Jason H. Thompson Sound design by John Zalewski Costume Design by Rebecca Carr Live broadcast and recording by PXT Studio Produced by Plain Wood Productions Blood/Sugar has been supported in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Arts and Disability Center at UCLA. Note: Any findings, opinions, or conclusions contained herein are not necessarily those of the California Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Arts and Disability Center.

Plain Wood Productions is thrilled to announce that its groundbreaking theater and film hybrid Blood/Sugar—created, directed, and performed by theater artist Diana Wyenn—is now available on-demand to the public. Historical perspectives, staggering statistics, and personal narrative collide with video effects, Shakespearean texts, and original movement to create a vivid account of the life-sustaining care that diabetes currently demands from one out of every 10 American adults. Creator Diana Wyenn, who has Type 1 diabetes, places her story and body at the center of the work, as both a carrier of the disease and a vehicle for theatrical transmission. Originally conceived in 2017 for the stage, Blood/Sugar was reworked in 2020 to be performed live from Wyenn’s own home due to the COVID-19 pandemic and is now available for on-demand streaming in 2021. “After more than a decade of living with diabetes, I learned that roughly  90% of cases are preventable and reversible,” shares creator and director Diana Wyenn. “Immediately, I turned all my skills as a storyteller toward creating a theatrical response that dispels the lies, mystery, and shame surrounding diabetes in all its forms.” “Then COVID-19 pandemic hit, and I saw people living with diabetes on the CDC’s list of vulnerable communities. I knew I couldn’t just pause and wait for the pandemic to pass. Blood/Sugar had to evolve and telling my story from within my own home and incorporating film techniques to do so has resulted in the most intimate and shareable version of the project possible. I believe this evolution of Blood/Sugar is the one I was always working towards. I just didn’t know it.” In conjunction with the on-demand recording, Wyenn is hosting free monthly conversations for audience members to ask questions and share reflections with her and diabetes experts. “I created Blood/Sugar to spark a much-needed conversation about this disease, so the post-show discussion between the audience, myself, and medical professionals has always been central to the Blood/Sugar experience. It was here that the audience could share their own experiences with one another and ask questions that they weren’t necessarily comfortable asking their own doctors. So I’m looking forward to continuing that tradition for this on-demand experience.”   The theater and film performance hybrid of the award-winning stage production was created by Wyenn and her production company Plain Wood Productions in collaboration with Blood/Sugar’s video designer Jason H. Thompson and his company PXT Studio. Utilizing multiple laptops, cell phones, USB microphones, hundreds of feet of cable, film production lighting equipment, and a green screen at Wyenn’s home in Echo Park, and five computers, plus a myriad of sound, video, and live streaming software—including vMix, Ableton, WatchOut, Qlab, and Vimeo for the live broadcasts—all programmed and triggered by Thompson at PXT Studio five miles away in Downtown Los Angeles, they spent the summer of 2020 physically distant adapting the stage experience for an online audience to watch safely from their homes. To get a glimpse into how they made it happen, here’s a recent Spectrum News 1 TV segment by Nic Cha Kim: https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/arts/2020/11/19/theater-artist-creates-virtual-show-to-understand-diabetes Blood/Sugar was initially conceived for the stage in 2017 and has since been presented at Highways Performances Space, Bootleg Theatre, REDCAT, New York University, and the Planet Connections Theatre Festivity where it was awarded The Planet Activist Award, Outstanding Production, and Outstanding Playwriting. The live virtual iteration was presented live by Boston Court Pasadena in September 2020 and Caltech Live! in November 2020 and is now available on-demand at dianawyenn.com and vimeo.com/ondemand/bloodsugar