This week: our review of the public debut of Koryn Wicks’ CASTING in LA, a short taste of our full review of David Byrne & Mala Gaonkar’s Theatre of the Mind in Denver, Katrina gets to sit down to a meal whipped up by Le Petite Chef outside of Toronto, and a look at LUMINEX 2.0 which slipped through LA this past week.
Last week’s Rundown, the one with Drinks & Dragons (& Diners)? You don’t need to roll a Nat 20 to read it. Just click.
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CASTING — Koryn Wicks
$5 — $20; Los Angeles, CA; Through October 1
Get in theatre nerds, we’re going to CASTING!
Winning the Grand Prize at the 2019 LA Immersive Invitational, CASTING came together within just 48 hours. You would never know it. The design choices are thoughtfully, artfully crafted; the production feels cohesive and complete. With a runtime of only 20–30 minutes (the average length of a typical audition), it’s a compressed and communal experience.
The production gathers six to 12 participants at Thymele Arts (a perfect venue with its Hollywood location and scrappy, non-union vibe). Combining theater, dance, interactive video, and sound design the audience is invited to… audition. For what exactly? And for who? These and other questions may — or may not — be answered during the course of the show.
Dancer, choreographer, and multimedia artist Koryn Wicks and her team leverage the bizarre particulars of auditioning resulting in an experience full of humor, heart, and catharsis. While the production will resonate most with current or former performers, it’s a joyful reprieve for everyone. The show is self-aware, welcoming, and offers a specific kind of play. Two “auditioners” lob information and espouse direction (much of it fantastically improvised by Sam Alper) that somehow seem logical and absurd. Participants observe and engage in response.
The mix of performer interaction, participant dynamics, and face masks (constricting facial expression and vocal projection) creates a beautiful alchemy around our perception of the fourth wall (both in art and life), and when we choose to break it. Torquing the odd prompts and exercises of the audition process, CASTING spotlights how we extract meaning and cajole connection to brilliant effect.
— Laura Hess, Arts Editor
Le Petit Chef — Skullmapping
$64.99 — $129.99; Richmond Hill, Canada; Ongoing
Le Petit Chef is an immersive dining experience from Belgian artistic collective Skullmapping. The show, which has graced dinner tables around the world, found its first North American home at the Jokers Theatre and Comedy Club Toronto Richmond Hill, just outside of Toronto.
Using projection mapping technology, Le Petit Chef utilizes the dinner table, plate and all, as a canvas on which the preparation of a five-course meal is playfully illustrated. We were introduced to the show’s namesake chef, “the smallest chef in the world,” who created each course on our plates. From a seafood bisque containing octopus tentacles severed from a Kraken, to a chicken dish whose cooking source may have caused an accidental wildfire, each of the five courses has a whimsical, and at times slapstick, backstory.
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The five-course meal, containing a salad, soup, chicken, steak, and dessert was surprisingly terrific. I entered the experience with the expectation that food would act as a vehicle for storytelling rather than a primary focus. With such an interesting concept, the team at Le Petit Chef could have easily defaulted to a passable menu. However, all five courses were delicious, and we left the venue that night sufficiently stuffed. Interestingly, our dessert for the evening, a creme brulee, did not match the rice pudding dish being prepared during the show. Also, if you’re a speed eater, keep in mind that the wait between courses is longer than your average restaurant, as the staff ensures every table finishes their plate before beginning the next presentation.
Le Petit Chef’s take on immersive dining is definitely unique. However, I do wish that the show did more to flaunt the abilities of projection mapping. The show projects onto two flat surfaces — a plate and a table. It would have been interesting to see the visuals interact with more of the table’s accoutrement — glassware, tableware, menus, decorations etc. By the time our fifth course was served I was well acquainted with what to expect. The platform has so many opportunities for surprise and delight moments that could have elevated the experience further.
At $129.99 per head, Le Petit Chef is definitely pricier than your average Prix fixe fare. However, if you consider it as a dinner and show, and a creative one at that, the price of entry is definitely more palatable.
– Katrina Lat, Toronto Correspondent
LUMINEX 2.0: Projected Realities — NOW Art
Free; Los Angeles, CA; Event concluded
LUMINEX 2.0: Projected Realities was the second iteration of NOW Art’s one-night-only art exhibition combining video projection, sound design, augmented reality (AR), and live performance. Projected onto building exteriors in the streets of Downtown Los Angeles, the digital artworks were viewable on a grand scale. The entire event was inclusive: free, open to the public (no need for online reservations), concentrated within a five-block radius (for those with mobility needs), outdoors (for those mitigating Covid risks), and included a livestream option (for immunocompromised folks and non-LA residents).
Specializing in public art, NOW Art is an LA-based art consultancy with a focus on using art as a catalyst for social change. In 2021, LUMINEX: Dialogues of Light included the work of six artists, including tech-forward visionaries such as Refik Anadol and Nancy Baker Cahill. An estimated 15,000 viewers attended in person and nearly 400 people joined the livestream.
For LUMINEX 2.0, NOW Art doubled its artist roster, expanded the programming, and included additional partnerships with local DTLA businesses. The event encountered a few hiccups: Hoverlay, an AR app, consistently failed to load and was non-functional for the duration of the evening, and live performances struggled with integration, both to their spatial surroundings and to the digital artworks.
This year, Sarah Rara’s Screen Lovers was a standout not only on its own, but also as a key reminder of context for site-specific artwork. The video was a loop of human eyes, blinking and staring. Bordered by city skyscrapers, a single, massive eye gazed back at viewers. The projection was accompanied by a transcript, read by a robotic female voice (developed as a collaboration between Rara and an AI). The spoken text was layered with dystopian humor about the prevalence of screens and our interaction with them. With commentary about identity, intimacy, and our surveillance state, the monologue was a surreal, harmonious companion to the projected video and especially resonant in its urban setting.
Screen Lovers was both familiar and surprising; it felt personal and universal. It transformed a hulking wall and an empty parking lot into a gorgeous, heartbreaking, and comical reflection point in the heart of DTLA. It transcended its location while also deepening its messaging through its location. Rara’s work is a best-in-class example of why LUMINEX and other public art initiatives are such an important part of our cultural landscape.
— Laura Hess, Arts Editor
Theatre of the Mind — David Byrne & Mala Gaonkar
$55–65; Denver; Through Dec 2022
There is a classic, memorable scene at the end of the movie Being John Malkovich where Lotte chases Maxine through the various chambers of John’s brain, literally stepping into his memories as they go. Theater Of The Mind reminded me a lot of that scene, except we traversed David Byrne’s head instead, lightly unpacked his childhood trauma, and experienced some really fun, science-based parlor tricks along the way.
— Danielle Look, from her FULL REVIEW
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