A life told through relics
In Relics and Their Humans, collaborators Ain Gordon and Josh Quillen reconvene with a work that blurs the boundaries between concert, theater and memoir. Following their critically acclaimed Radicals in Miniature, this new piece invites audiences into an intimate and deeply human story.
“This is our second collaboration. Our first was spurred by moments in my life. It seemed inevitable this one should draw from Josh’s,” says Gordon.
Journeying to Josh Quillen’s hometown of Dover, Ohio, the work traces his family’s life in the wake of his father’s ALS diagnosis. At its core are three “relics” — a recorded interview, a personal journal and an unexpected playlist — which form the foundation of a layered, emotionally resonant performance.
“While the work honors Josh’s dad Jerry, it is really a tribute to Sue, an unstoppable warrior for her family,” says Gordon. “She is hilarious, deeply opinionated, a precision-scale host and all-embracing. She gave me unlimited permission to inhabit her words, to ‘be’ her onstage, and then adopted me as another son.”
With inventive dramaturgy by Talvin Wilks and evocative lighting by Jennifer Tipton, Relics and Their Humans transforms personal history into a richly theatrical encounter. The result is both precise and expansive, offering audiences space to reflect on memory, loss and the objects that carry us through both.