The Immersive 5 with Cynthia von Buhler of Speakeasy Dollhouse

by Kathryn Yu
Kathryn Yu
•
December 11, 2018
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5 min read

An interview with the visual artist and theatre maker

Immersive creator and illustrator Cynthia von Buhler burst onto the NYC immersive scene back in 2011 with her first production, Speakeasy Dollhouse: The Bloody Beginning, an immersive retelling of the unsolved murder of her grandfather Frank Spano, based upon her graphic novel of the same name. She’s created a number of immersive productions since then while also keeping pace with her work in graphic novels, children’s books, fine art, and more. Most recently, she staged The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini, a 1920s-era thriller where rookie private eye Minky Woodcock looks into the mysterious death of Harry Houdini and finds possible foul play.

We caught up with the multidisciplinary creator over email as she prepares for the Illuminati Ball’s New Year’s Eve event at the Weylin in Brooklyn.

No Proscenium (NP): What does “immersive” mean to you?

Cynthia von Buhler (CvB): To be immersed in a play, installation or art piece the viewer needs to feel truly transported. This can be done with a combination of set, interaction, scent, costume, sound and lighting. Interaction alone does not make a show immersive. You need the whole package.

Too many productions use the word too easily. True immersive theater requires creativity, hard work, and a deep attention to detail.

NP: Why (or why don’t) you think of your work as immersive?

CvB: I started doing “immersive” projects in the mid-nineties with my band The Women of Sodom, my sculptures, and at my large scale parties. Back then we called it “interactive.” I prefer the word “immersive” because it encompasses so much more than just interaction.

I love transforming a space so when people enter it they feel like they physically stepped into a new and exciting realm.

I like to create actual portholes. In Speakeasy Dollhouse, The Bloody Beginning, I made a small door that needs to be crawled through to access a 1920s alley and in Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic, guests discovered a Broadway theater behind a velvet curtain in the back of a tacky Times Square diner. In The Illuminati Ball Immersive Excursion, the porthole was the limo bus ride where guests were blindfolded, offered champagne and transported to a secret location outside the city.

NP: What was the moment where you knew that this kind of work was for you?

CvB: Ever since I was a girl I would create interactive games and sets to entertain my friends. These were on a much smaller scale from what I do now, sometimes in our bedrooms or yards, and other times with stuffed animals or paper dolls in my bed. Ultimately, they immersed my audience in a new world. It makes me happy to give other people experiences of joy, wonder, hope, curiosity — and sadness. We all want joy and wonder, but humans are seekers, we are curious and we need possibilities in our lives or we feel empty. Sadness is important and helps us see life with all of its beauty and flaws — emptiness is what I want to take away. It serves no purpose.

I love to entertain, but I don’t need to be the center of attention — I like the audience and my ideas to be the stars. This way I can sit back quietly and watch people enter my mind and engage with my stories. In this type of theater an audience member, or an actor, add their own creation to the mix and that is even more exciting for me because I am entertained by them in return. You don’t have this in traditional one-sided proscenium theater. Immersive theatre offers a real connection with the audience where they can respond with more than just applause.

NP: When designing — regarding your approach to presence, agency, safety, and consent — how do you cue the audience as to what’s expected of them and the nature of the content they might encounter?

CvB: Safety is very important to me. I’m a bit of an agoraphobic and strongly dislike unfriendly environments. I despise velvet rope door policy. Everyone is equal and we all deserve respect. I stress to my cast and crew that we should always make our audience feel welcome and safe. I tell them to greet everyone as though they are an old friend. We send out a confirmation email which includes information about comfort and safety. I’m also concerned with the safety of my cast and crew. In The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini one of my actors didn’t feel safe locked in the water torture chamber so I took on the role as her stunt double and went into the tank naked every night to pretend like I was dead. I’m hands on when it comes to making people feel safe.

I try to attend every show and my job is to make people feel welcomed, safe, and respected.

NP: What works — be they creative works, books, or other inspirations — have shaped your current work?

CvB: This is a hard question to answer because everything I have ever seen, read or experienced has shaped my work. Sometimes the tiniest thing might have a lasting impression. For example, today I noticed the way dew on a leaf can look like diamonds and that influenced how I plan to decorate the jungle in The Illuminati Ball on New Year’s Eve I find infinite amounts of inspiration in nature, animals and humanity (or lack of it).