A collaboratively written Space Opera becomes a real, annual Performative Congress on July 4, 2026, where the Body Politic deliberates through theatre, dance, and ritual rather than text, embodying voices of Oceans, Forests, Future Generations, Ancestors, AIs, and Aliens—and incorporating as a Legal Personhood to act in the world.
# Core Question How do we design a Future Parliament that is felt in bodies, not merely argued in prose—so that deliberation is experienced as choreography, touch, rhythm, breath, and presence?
> **Note:** This is a practical question to be demonstrated in a performance and not merely elaborated in prose.
# Participants 140 high-school students from Ohio; art/film/design students from Art for Future Lab (Potsdam); writers and mentors from an online Creative Writing Community. This core community is activated by a: - Physical Invitation to local workshops - Casting Call for online participation at disparate locations, and - Hybrid Workshops for all particpants. See Who Participates?
# Setting and Premise A hard science-fiction world in which a yearly July 4th Congress gathers across planets and polities to renew a federated Declaration of Independence. Outline the cosmology, constraints of physics, comms latency, habitats, travel, and the political stakes.
# Elements
The folowing elements are to be used in the performance. These are optional for any given group, though in the context of the whole we strive to include each of these elements as participatns in the dialogue:
- Embodiment Strategy - Eco Representation - Performance Instruments - Script Collaboration - Choreographic Deliberation
# Shadow Institutions
Reference the Shadow Parliament and the Right-Hemisphere Chamber roles during development: deep review, field sensing, metaphor testing, and anomaly watch. Explain how “sleep cycles” and “dream reports” shape revisions before opening night.
Outline how the Congress becomes a Legal Personhood: proposed jurisdiction(s), charter text, governance, fiduciary duties, rights, obligations, and how embodied votes convert into binding resolutions. Note registration steps and compliance without offering legal advice.
Use the Hitchhiker Passport with SSI and attestations to badge roles (performer, guardian, steward, auditor, guest). Explain Plausible Deniability where needed, and accessibility-by-design for disability, language, and bandwidth diversity.
# See - Who Participates? - Performance Plan