HyoJeong Choi

Set two years after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, and the subsequent nuclear disaster, the play follows five workers who have been subcontracted by the Tokyo Electric Power Company to clean up the waste at the plant a site that is still highly radioactive. Each coming from different walks of life, but all from marginalized parts of society, the workers quickly form a bond as they work tirelessly to meet their quotas, despite the constant ringing of their pocket dosimeters — a device that measures radiation — that remind them that it isn’t just their labor they are offering for money.

Juxtaposed to the day and life of the workers is Astro Girl, a cartoonish, wide-eyed narrator loosely inspired by Astro Boy, a popular manga series in the 1950s about a robot fueled by nuclear energy. With her unreliable commentary based on old nuclear power propaganda, Astro Girl creates tonal whiplash and pushes the boundary between propaganda and truth.

The play explores the questions: What is the true cost of nuclear energy, and by extension, technological progress? How do we make those costs invisible, not just in the system but to ourselves?