Theatregoers are familiar with traditional plays and musicals; most audiences find the stories told through these mediums engaging, entertaining, and inspiring. Justin M. Krall, a third-year MFA student studying performance and pedagogy, will introduce audiences to another form of theatre—devised action theatre—with his thesis-show Cycle(s).

An apprentice of Fight Directors Canada with over 15 years of experience performing and choreographing stage combat and movement theatre, Krall's work explores his passion for devised theatre that focuses on action movement, often connected with violence inherent in design and the ways that individuals communicate through these performance mediums.

Krall devised and developed Cycle(s) throughout this past academic year. The show takes place in a dark, strange, hostile environment. Lone survivors fight for their lives, for answers, and a way out in a seemingly never-ending cycle of death and reanimation. Faced with the obstacles of both physical fights and psychological battles, characters struggle internally and externally within an original and often inspiring violent soundscape.

Cycle(s) is not the first combat-oriented devised theatre performance Krall has created. In last year's Frontier Fest, he directed the devised production of HeadSpace. In 2015, he devised Living the Dream alongside sound designer and composer Derek Graham AKA Rekadon.

Through adversity and determination, the cast for Cycle(s) has grown close in the rehearsals for this new play which has no fear of straying from typical narrative structures and our expectations within theatre.

Performances of Cycle(s) will be at 7:30 p.m. on April 22 and 2:00 p.m. on April 23 in The CH Foundation, The Legacy of Christine DeVitt Black Box Theatre. Admission is free and all are welcome and encouraged to attend.