The monthly immersive, site-specific variety series tackles corporate dystopia

I walk into a small, drab storefront on a nondescript street in Brooklyn, where a man in khakis and a tie is taking names.

“And you are…?” he asks.

“Blake Weil,” I say, not realizing the show has already begun.

“Ah! Mr. Blaithe Heidegger,” he responds.

He hands me a small security badge on a clip. “From corporate property! Please make sure to display that at all times. And help yourself to some cake and soft drink. We’re gonna have a great party!”

And so began an entirely unpredictable evening at the monthly Liminal Salon.

Liminal Salon does not need to be immersive. But the fact that it is immersive makes it so much greater than the sum of its parts. The brainchild of Ellena Chmielewski (of the Upright Citizens Brigade) and her production company Harlow Fowler, it exists primarily as a comedy-heavy variety show, showcasing a broad variety of local talent. But each production reframes the show, transforming it to match a different absurd theme each month. The evening exists as a sort of side-splitting through the looking glass version of the Lawrence Welk show. This unbalancing makes each twist (be it a plot twist or unexpected act) pack twice the punch.

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January’s show, the ninth so far the series, was listed as Samsara Solutions Presents: The Successful Completion of the Catalyst Initiative/Phase 2 Office Party. Co-directed and co-produced by Curtis Retherford, the mixture of sci-fi surreality and corporate mundanity completely transported the audience. For a show with minimal production values, such care was taken among tiny details to make the setting completely convincing. The soda cups were deliberately frustratingly small, the chips just slightly off brand, the decorations limited to lame streamers and a tired fern. Everything screamed Corporate America, down to the programs being printed as meeting agendas (with space for notes, of course) in manila envelopes. The show builds itself around whatever space it chooses for the month. This show, they selected a perfectly mundane corporate style room with one peculiar construction remnant in the corner, a small hole with a fence built around it. This became a focal point of the evening, “The Hole” being a strange arcane portal to the forces that commanded the island setting.

The audience was brought along to help define the world; as an awkward corporate icebreaker, we were all asked to introduce ourselves (“Not your mainland names! Only a fool would use their mainland name on the island!”) and tell the group what we missed the least from the mainland. When the hosts opened up with “cell phone reception” as something completely unmissed from the outside world, we found ourselves given total permission to create as unpleasant a reality as possible. Together, we created the ultimate corporate hell hole; we certainly didn’t miss real food, waking up without electric shocks, and the immense waste of time that was taking warm, relaxing showers when a two minute pressure wash does the same job. The island, we would slowly learn, was necessary for whatever sinister corporate nonsense Samsara Solutions performed, but was strange and mercurial in its intent; it became enraged, for example, and began flickering our lights and making angry rumblings when we envisioned things we missed from the mainland in a guided meditation. As the night went on, different performers (entertainment brought in from the mainland) riffed on our definitions of the world and new acts recontextualized this false corporate cheer. A fascinating meta-narrative emerged that made each act of the variety show an adventure — what will this person do next and where are they taking the story?

The variety show acts themselves were uniformly spectacular. Highlights of the evening included theremin and guitar duo Cody and Diana McCorry, doing spacey versions of 1960’s hits; Max and Nicky, a twin act performing both retro music and deadpan Jonathan Winters-esque comedy; and the best close up magician I’ve ever seen, Justin Sight. The only thing linking these acts was a modern, off-kilter reinterpretations of acts from the heydays of variety show. But even though everyone had an element of throwback, the immersive elements kept the evening feeling modern and fresh.

At the end of the night, we were implicitly given a character choice for the office drones whose roles we had assumed — we could return to the mainland with the performers, and were given cheer for our service. Or, otherwise, we could stay on, with an even bigger cheer from middle management, to remain for Phase III of the project. Needless to say that despite the cake and soft drink (insistently non-pluralized throughout the evening), most chose to leave the island.

Harlow Fowler (Ellena Doe and Gia Ingram) is a relatively new player on the immersive scene, but manages to blend the mystery immersive theatre prides itself upon with a sense of levity and joy that’s often sadly absent from the space. It’s surprising and nearly miraculous that a company which creates a different world every month can make such a rich end product. A monthly event with limitless framing possibilities, Liminal Salon promises to keep on delighting. I’m so glad I escaped the Samsara Solutions island, if only so I can go on the next trip Harlow Fowler takes me on.

Liminal Salon 9: Samsara Solutions Presents: The Successful Completion of The Catalyst Initiative/Phase II Office Party has concluded. Liminal Salon will have one more performance on February 16, before taking a hiatus for Harlow Fowler to prepare for a larger production in May 2019.

Liminal Salon will return later this year.

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Office facilities provided by Thymele Arts, in Los Angeles, CA.