In an epoch of heightened emotions, cultural paradigms come to life and kidnap a woman in Brooklyn. Aspiring author and hopeful client Liam Lieu is the sole witness to her abduction, and he finds himself tasked with bringing back his potential publicist before society falls apart. Despite these extraordinary circumstances, many of his fellow citizens are too fatigued to notice, or care. But as strange incidents begin to pile up around the city, two of Liam’s friends are pulled into the fray. Meanwhile, a veteran detective stumbles onto Liam’s trail and bites off more than he bargained for, and a hospital worker finds her patients increasingly erratic and violent. Separately, these five navigate a realm of unstable metaphysics and an apathetic reality to bring back something that was lost. “Paradigms For a Mad City” is a gothic comedy that satirizes the post-pandemic hysteria across America in the early 2020s. It’s a slapstick romp through the human spirit in changing times; how it breaks down, rebuilds itself, and yearns for balance amidst a conflict it cannot explain.