Kirby
2000 · Ensemble-created superhero deconstruction · Nada Classic
Kirby told a tale of a superhero and a mute girl. Written by Adhesive cast and staff and directed by Cory Einbinder, the production used clear images and layers of sound, music, movement, and spectacle to examine a fall from grace and the loss of innocence.
An original stage collage
The company described the narrative as a collage free from formulaic situations and open to interpretation. That form suited an ensemble-created work. Instead of relying on a single realistic world, the production could place an image beside a sound, interrupt action with a movement sequence, or let a prop carry an idea forward. The spaces between the parts gave the audience room to connect them.
The superhero frame supplied recognizable pressures—power, expectation, danger, and public identity—while the company’s description kept the story focused on two characters confronting the real world. The title acknowledged the influence of comics creator Jack Kirby, but the production was presented as Adhesive’s own ensemble work rather than an adaptation of a named character or franchise.
Creative team
- Adhesive cast and staff — writers
- Cory Einbinder — director; costumes and props
- Stephanie Casella — stage manager
- Michelangelo Barasorda IV — costumes and props
Cast
- Michelangelo Barasorda IV
- Peter Bean Brown
- Sarah Sims Erwin
- Eric Giancoli
- Kalle Macrides
The production history keeps the shared cast and project roles together. It does not carry forward personal résumés or information outside this production.
Early signs of a durable method
Kirby arrived in the same year as Spring Awakening. The projects differed in source and tone, but both used transformation, layered sound, and strong stage pictures. The ensemble authorship of Kirby also anticipated I, Object!, where three named creators and a six-person cast worked with puppets, animation, and live video.
The collage form returned in other ways. Hysteria: HYSTERIA pasted source texts together and shaped them through a movement score. NOIR assembled a mystery from cinematic frames and live bodies. Adhesive’s larger mission made that recurrence explicit: the company sought new performance perspectives by bringing different arts and working methods into one stage event.
See Projects & Events for the full chronology and About Us for the company’s account of the audience’s role in completing an imagined world.