Mall of Maladaptive Dreaming

Mall of Maladaptive Dreaming is an immersive, site-responsive theatre production that explores questions that the retail industry poses, from what it means to be an object to what it means to dream, by following the experiences of several exotic dancers working with mannequins in a “mall club.” As these women realize the social, emotional, and psychological implications of holding undervalued positions in a declining industry, their relationships with each other begin to deteriorate—all the while being forced to deepen their understanding of the space around them together.

Welcome to GABA
The ‘mall club’ of your maladaptive dreams

“It’s retail, honey, in a g-string. If you don’t feel profoundly alone, you aren’t doing it right.”

Mall of Maladaptive Dreaming is an immersive, site-responsive theatre production that explores various questions the retail industry poses, from what it means to be an attractive object to what it means to dream, by following the experiences of several exotic dancers working with mannequins in a “mall club.”

As these women realize the social, emotional, and psychological implications of holding undervalued positions in a declining industry, their relationships with each other begin to deteriorate—all the while being forced to deepen their understanding of the space around them together.

Their stories, conveyed through various media (sound, video, and performance), are contextualized within an actual retail space to create a local and compelling experience. Utilizing an approach to spatial anthropology, Mall of Maladaptive Dreaming will situate the narratives of each character within a broader examination of the culture of retail that exists in the location of the work: The Shops at UpTown Waterloo.

Our approach to
examining the intersection
of retail and
maladaptive dreaming

Audience members will experience the mall’s retail landscape via video and soundscape on their smartphones, followed by a more immersive experience of GABA—an entrepreneurial adult entertainment venture—facilitated by five performers. As it becomes clear that this space is animated more by maladaptive dreams than honest transactions, this play will explore what it means to make a living on cursed land.

In this production, we hope to pose important questions about our current relationship with retail and the space around us, as well as how this affects our sense of self-worth and the relationships most meaningful to us.