The Motion
a meta-theatrical sci-fi fable
Chen sets up The Motion as an Oxford-style debate show, called “Intelligence Cubed.” The debaters for and against a motion to ban animal testing suddenly fall into a surreal psychological experiment where they must come to a unanimous decision in order to be released. Questions of ethics, especially around animal welfare, science, and humanity, are rarely as simple as yes or no, and the audience takes part in the experiment by voting on key moments.
“It’s like a Russian nesting doll. You open one and there’s another inside… It’s one surprise after another,” says Dooley. “A dominant theme that emerges in this story aligns with others that are addressed in our 2025 season: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN”
– Director Patrick Dooley
The format — a debate on experimenting that morphs into an experiment of its own — forces both the characters and audiences to question not only what they believe, but why. Chen’s work has been produced throughout the Bay Area, and across the nation. Shotgun welcomes him back to Berkeley with this new play before it heads to Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. in 2026.
“The Motion, which riffs on the debate format before spinning into different worlds, is one of the most ambitious plays I’ve written,” says Chen. “There’s a particular thrill when you feel yourself being swayed from one side to another, then back again, because it feels like you’re activating the deepest part of your humanity.”
director PATRICK DOOLEY
on THE MOTION
Morals are slippery. How many public figures make bold declarations they will soon compromise with their own actions? How many impassioned ‘til-death-do-us-parts melt away over time? How many laws do we applaud until someone we love is subject to them? We crave the comfort of moral absolutism and the sense of safety and structure it promises.
But humans are messy. We are all messy. Christopher Chen’s plays are fascinated by our stumbling and earnest attempts to grasp a sense of self and “the right way of being,” even as our own perspectives and the world around us continue to shift and evolve. In a way, we are like the heroes of this play: a group of scientists, “searchers,” testing and exploring our ways through life. The twists and turns of Chen’s narratives thrill not because they are so farfetched, but because they are as fantastical as our own.
We welcome you to engage with this performance just as you do your own lives: with a spirit of thoughtfulness and wonder. Stay open. Stay curious. Things turn so quickly.
scenic design by nina ball
“The scenic world of the play is both hyper-realistic and surrealistic. It juxtaposes beauty and tranquility with loss of self and loss of freedom. It satiates and denies. When we think we understand this world it forces us to reconsider what is true.”
Playwright CHRISTOPHER CHEN
Christopher Chen is an Obie award-winning playwright whose full-length works have been produced and developed across the United States and abroad, at companies such as the American Conservatory Theater, Artists Repertory, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Crowded Fire, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Finborough Impact Theatre, InterAct Theatre, Lincoln Center Theatre (LCT3), Long Wharf Theatre, Magic Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Foundation, Playwrights Horizons, Rep at St. Louis, San Francisco Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Shotgun Players, Silk Road Rising, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Soho Rep, Sundance Theatre Lab, Theatre Mu, The Vineyard, The Wilma and Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company among others.
Honors include: 2024 Windham Campbell Prize for Playwriting; 2021 USA Fellow; 2020 Steinberg Playwright Award; 2017 Obie Award for Playwriting (for Caught); 2017 Lanford Wilson Award; the 2015-2016 Sundance Institute/Time Warner Foundation Fellowship for theater; Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, through which he was the 2013-2014 playwright-in-residence at The Vineyard Theatre; Barrymore Award (for Caught); PHINDIE Critics Award (for Caught); Drama League Nomination (for Caught); Glickman Award (for The Hundred Flowers Project); Rella Lossy Playwriting Award (for The Hundred Flowers Project); shortlist for the James Tait Black Award (for The Hundred Flowers Project); nomination for the Steinberg Award (for The Hundred Flowers Project); 2nd Place in the Belarus Free Theater International Competition of Modern Dramaturgy (for Into the Numbers).
Director Patrick Dooley
Patrick started Shotgun Players in 1992 with a few friends in the basement
of a pizza parlor. Their only hope was to make great, affordable theater.
Since then, Patrick has directed over 50 plays and overseen the production
of nearly 175 others. In 2007, he led the effort to make the Ashby Stage
the country’s first 100% solar-powered theater. And while it may be
fruitless, he is also a relentless recycler. Most importantly, he adores his
three wonderful daughters