A Flood of Events + Two Reviews
Hi there, everyone. A bunch of things are coming up in the next few weeks that run the gamut of immersive so I’m going to mention them to you. Due to travel, there are a couple I can’t make, but I’m getting back on track in April and May, so there are events you’ll be able to coordinate with me if you’re interested. This is a real caveat emptor post since I’m not going to see these things myself, but I consider it my role in this list to tell you what I know, and I’m certainly not shy about saying what I think will suck, so you’ll at least be warned.
Also, two reviews below of things I’ve done recently, one interesting and one great.
Upcoming Immersive I’m Going To
Casting - This is a pretty famous short (about 25 minute) show from LA. I heard hype about it a while ago and it’s only in NYC for this weekend, so this is a snooze-and-you-miss situation. I’m seeing it on Saturday the 16th at 8pm. It’s $23.18.
Mercer Labs - Alright, I’ve seen some people I trust praise this one, so I’m going to do it. It’s expensive ($52), but the artist is real and I do need to check out more of these commercial-leaning art installation spaces. This is your last chance to get on this boat before I launch at my earliest convenience.
UP UNTIL NOW: Midair for Sometime - This is billed as a multi-sensory, immersive installation exploring intimacy, connection, and Queer community. It looks to be a short film with a haptic component. It’s $25, but you can pay more to give others tickets. I think the only day I can do this is Saturday the 23rd, so I’m going to try then. Let me know if you’re interested.
Witchland - A combination play and haunted house based on a true story of the “most toxic place in the Western Hemisphere.” Billed as moving, funny, and scary. We’re going on April 6th if you want to join us.
Vicky Archives - An immersive experience where you witness the “memories” of a strange organization through a series of group exercises. This is at The Tank, so it’s straight up immersive theater. $40 ticket. I’m going to see it, but I haven’t decided when. If you want to come with me, you can help me decide.
Third Law - The audience uses a digital board game to shape the action of a live play to co-create a performance. I have no idea if it’s good, but I seriously don’t know how they could fit more of my buzzwords into this one. It’s also at Culture Lab LIC, a space I think does quite interesting work generally. Tickets are like $30. Another one I’m deciding on the date on, so let me know if you’re interested.
Upcoming Immersive You’re On Your Own For
To be clear, I’m not avoiding these because of anything about them but the dates — I’m traveling when they run.
Private Party - It’s billed as an immersive private party with food and booze and performance and protest. This is the kind of thing that could be awful or amazing or a mix of both. Very sliding scale but the cheapest ticket is $35. Only March 20th and 21st.
Let’s Exorcise! - Not totally sure from the description, but it sounds like a combination exercise class and purging of object-that-doesn’t-spark-joy ceremony. This is the Movement Lab at Barnard College, so it’s dance focused for sure. It also looks like it’s free, but you need to RSVP. This is close enough to my house and dopey sounding enough (in a good way) that I would go if I could just to see what it is.
Reviews
Tiger’s Bride - An interesting case study of why you should stick with what you know. This immersive performance was a Sleep No More style piece where you could wander around a space following the story of Bluebeard and his bride, with a bunch of other fairy tales mixed in. The cast was a circus group and that was cool — the aerialist and dance elements were pretty good — and the music of the piece was excellent. Also, the two leads (Bluebeard and the Bride) were great, especially given how much they had to lift. However, as alluded to above, the story made no sense. A bunch of other fairy tales were tossed into the narrative in a completely slapdash way that confused the story. Why was Puss-in-Boots in the same castle as Cinderella? What did that have to do with Bluebeard? But the bigger issue was the interactivity. They gave you a card at the beginning and told you you needed to give four keys (i.e. stamps) to gain access to a special scene, but getting a key was stumbling into the right room at the right time and watching an actor do a short monologue. The key performances weren’t really worth hunting down for their own sake and people mobbed around the performers trying to get stickers, so you had to make a decision about whether or not you were going to chase stickers for not so great content or just wander around and have random encounters with circus acts. We did the latter, which was definitely the better choice, but you still saw completionist crowds if you went the wrong way. The summary is that the whole thing would have been better with editing, cutting the unnecessary narrative and the terrible gameplay for something less structured and more spontaneous that let the music and performers shine.
Winter’s Walk - A terrific little interactive piece by Linked Dance Theatre. You go for a walk in Central Park with Win, a friend who has something to share with you, but actually you follow a slightly whimsical and meta story about the creative process and completion. It’s right in the wheelhouse Linked Dance Theatre excels in, keeping up the tradition of their last work, The Incomplete Collection. It’s a very short experience, but for me, it’s a model of how a piece like that should work - tight, not too didactic, just enough dance and interaction to get its point across. It’s just lovely to walk around Central Park having a conversation and then watching a small but very artful choreographic moment, all the while meditating on what it means to tell stories. I’m deliberately being a bit vague because I really hope you have a chance to do it. It’s just lovely, and all the more reason to keep Linked Dance Theatre on your radar.
That’s all for now, although it’s a lot. Touch base with me and let’s see something together.