How can changing the context for a performance alter its meaning? In this film, artist Liz Magic Laser directs a group of actors performing theatrical scenes in public locations throughout New York City. "There’s a respect for the material but then there’s a complete disrespect for how they’re supposed to be done," explains Laser, who describes her approach as "playing with the tension between script and context and somehow a mismatch between the two." For Laser’s performance chase (2009-10), Bertolt Brecht's play Man Equals Man (1926)—an allegory of capitalist greed and militarism—is staged in public bank vestibules throughout New York City in the aftermath of the 2007–08 financial crisis. Laser worked with each actor individually, rehearsing and filming scenes one-on-one, and later edited the footage together to reconstitute the play’s plot and dialogue. Improvising in each location, actors also deliver dialogue to unsuspecting customers, bank signage, and ATMs.
From the series, "New York Close Up"