TELLURIDE – If you were one of the few survivors to emerge from the rubble of a fallen civilization, where would you go to start anew?

And what from the past would you carry with you into a new future?

SquidShow Theatre, Telluride’s most prolific grassroots theatre company, offers its take on these provocative questions in its upcoming show Cataclysm! opening Saturday at the Deep Creek Mine.

The play, written by SquidShow founder Sasha Cucciniello and New York City-based playwright Sarah Gancher, tells the story of survivors who find each other after the nation suffers a complete environmental, governmental and financial collapse. This unlikely group of pioneers must create a new society from the ashes of the old, deciding, along the way, what parts of the past should have a place in the future, and which shouldn’t.

Thematically, the play has echoes of theatre in medieval times, when traveling troupes put on plays as a means of keeping the stories from the past alive in the present.

The Cataclysm! survivors, played by local thespians Sam Burgess, Shaun Greager, Dahlia Mertens, Thomas Shane, Colin Sullivan, and Cucciniello, piece together a fragmented picture of pre-disaster civilization, weaving a story that will become legend for future generations. Theatre becomes the mode by which the survivors’ stories endure.

New York City-based director Jen Wineman, who returns to SquidShow for this summer’s show, after directing Squids! Live! last summer, explains: “The idea is that regular people put on a pageant of history in a ritualistic manner,” as a means of preserving parts of history.

Cucciniello adds that while the historically significant power of art and theatre provided a strong premise for the story, location played a very vital role in the creation of Cataclysm!

Cucciniello became familiar with the historic Deep Creek Mine while working at the Deep Creek Artisan Guild, a workspace for local artists located in the mine. She hoped to someday create a play specifically for this rustic location tucked into the rocky red pinnacles, down the valley from Telluride.

“In the back of their heads, I think everyone wonders what would happen if everything was wiped out.” Were that to happen: “I think [the Deep Creek Mine] would be the perfect place to live,” Cucciniello says. At the “end of the world,” what would be remembered?And how would those stories be passed to future generations? Cucciniello muses.

Catacylsm! is SquidShow’s answer to these questions.

Cucciniello tapped longtime collaborator Gancher to come to Telluride to write this theatrical extravaganza, created from scratch throughout the rehearsal process under the leadership of Wineman and visiting designer Melissa Trn.

While most of SquidShow Theatre’s plays are site-specific, Cataclysm was written with an especially strong sense of place at its core thanks to the unique elements a venue like the Deep Creek Mine provides, Cucciniello says.

“This offers people a totally different experience – great theatre in an amazing location that a lot of people have never seen,” she says.

Cataclysm’s scenic designer Trn says audiences are in for a truly unique theatrical experience at the Deep Creek Mine. “We’re really trying to invite people into a landscape that they might not otherwise feel comfortable in,” she says, noting that each showing will be completely unplugged and will go on rain or shine.

And while Cucciniello admits that the subject matter may sound grim, the play is, after all, a SquidShow creation – meaning that this often wacky, always fun theatre company will no doubt lend a lighter tone to a very serious theme.

“Bon Jovi may or may not feature heavily in a very amazing moment,” says Wineman.

Cataclysm! will take to the Deep Creek stage on Saturday, July 31-Tuesday Aug. 3. The show will start at 7 p.m. each evening, and like all SquidShow events is free (but donations are very happily accepted.)

Carpooling is highly recommended; a free shuttle, donated by Telluride Express, will leave from the San Miguel County Courthouse each evening at 6:30 p.m.

Deep Creek Mine is located seven miles west of downtown Telluride, on Highway 145, at mile marker 75. From Telluride, drive straight down valley seven miles, then turn right on Deep Creek Road. Signs and attendants will direct you as to where to park.

For more information visit www.squidshow.org or call 708-3934.