I’ve recently become involved in TimeWave, a theatre, art and technology festival to be inaugurated up in Manchester this coming November 19-24.

It has been set up by the excellent lonyla (London-NY-LA) artists’ network founded by J. Dakota Powell, another American transplanted to London, taking advantage of the connections that we rootless cosmopolitans have gathered over years of transatlantic and intercontinental living and travel. How do we tell stories to each other across such vast distances in space and in culture?

TimeWave itself will try to realise these long-distance links. One event, multiple locations, multiple points of view, even within a single piece:

Each day of the festival will consist of a two-hour event, knitting together 8 to 10 short pieces from playwrights, poets, composers and transmedia creators to form a kaleidoscopic tapestry. Over a five-day run, the programme will resemble a prism shifting every few minutes to reveal a unique voice, style or viewpoint.

In some pieces, we will use telepresence. For example, American actors will be live-streamed on to a projection screen to interact with British actors on stage. Or audiences in Hong Kong can discuss what they’ve seen with audiences in Manchester, sharing thoughts and ideas.

The festival has already got the support of an amazing group of writers, filmmakers and directors, including Neil LaBute and David Henry Hwang.

So, please come see the festival up in Manchester this Autumn. But before then, if you can, please consider donating to the cause and help make TimeWave happen.