EXCLUSIVE: Lilly Wachoswki is setting a different kind of stage for her next project, hosting a live reading of her dystopian political thriller The Hunted, currently in late-stage development with a producing team that includes Natasha Lyonne.
Co-written by Wachowski and Mickey R. Mahoney, The Hunted will make its debut with an unconventional live read event, produced by Wachowski’s Anarchists United, taking place Aug. 7-8 at Dynasty Typewriter. Casting and ticket info will be announced soon.
Described as a biting political thriller in the tradition of Wild in the Streets and V for Vendetta, The Hunted is set in a dystopian America where trans people are brutalized and erased to the margins of society. When a heinous crime sets off a chain reaction of mutual care and resistance within a trans community, two trans women search for the perpetrator that leads to the highest reaches of government.
“Queer people have a necessary desire to be in community and for trans people, at this time, this need is particularly urgent. Our lives literally depend on it,” said Wachowski. “The hope is that a table read of The Hunted, will result in the same joy and catharsis that Mickey and I experienced while writing it.”
Rather than going the typical industry route with the script, the live read marks “a bold act of transparency and artistic confidence that invites the public into the work at its most vital stage.”
The Hunted is produced by Wachowski and Mahoney with Lawrence Mattis and Sarah Marie Flores at Anarchists United, alongside Lyonne at Ariadne Collective—the indie studio she recently launched with Sean Lennon and Evan Ross—and Jason Weinberg and Daniel Flick at Untitled Entertainment.
