Seventeen-year-old Renella Mendoza grieves the loss of her mother, who died during a global pandemic. To help Renella recover, her school counsellor encourages her to take an electronics internship with a prestigious academic group conducting a research study in the tropical city of Mayaaka. There, Renella stumbles on four things: an apparent cure for her debilitating skin condition, an immunity to electrocution, a mind-melding contraption, and a group of exploited girls. But when Renella tries to rescue the girls, all of whom have a similar skin condition, she learns that none of the girls want to be rescued. At least—not by her.
The Great Tit is a Bird, a new sci-fi narrative project, probes the compromises and consequences that vulnerable, structurally oppressed people around the world—from public laboratories to private boudoirs—undertake just to survive. This transfeminine story explores issues its creators have witnessed firsthand, including techno-colonization, research misconduct, gender-based violence, and threats to body autonomy.
The show, which began as an episodic audio drama and is currently being produced as an animated series, is a mosaic of found media: voice memos, commercials, voicemails, radio shows, and phone calls. The cast includes performers in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.
Content Advisory: The Great Tit is a Bird is for mature audiences only.