ALIEN NATION

Imagine living in a secret city where no one from the outside world really knows you exist. Scary, right? Welcome to Atomic City, a new physical-theater piece that combines the talents of Cirque de Soleil’s Jon Morris with the Danish company Terra Nova, to tell the story of two neighboring families who—due to alienation and fear—bicker about the most trivial of issues until the conflict is, er, blown up out of proportion. The work is inspired by the 70,000 scientists, workers, and their families who furtively moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1942 to contribute to the nuclear-arms race as a part of the Manhattan Project. Although there’s no mention of Oak Ridge or the A-bomb in the piece, Atomic City uses movement, original live music, and “Euro crash dance” to answer the deeper question of what causes the divides of humanity.

Sat., Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m., 2008