One after another, performing arts venues shut their doors in March 2020 and theatre company after company announced cancellations, postponements, or runs being cut short. However, things have looked slightly different in the immersive camp compared to the rest of the theatre world. Numerous immersive companies have quickly pivoted to remote or online or self-guided performances, in a mad scramble to plant flags on platforms like Zoom, Discord, podcasts, and more. Now, looking back at several weeks of self-isolation and stay-at-home orders, we at NoPro wanted to take a broader view of how these experiments have been going.
To that end, we checked in with our writing staff to ask where they’re at (both mentally and physically) and if they’ve been able to attend some online or remote experiences during this time. Despite the chaotic bunkering down with families in the suburbs, sudden cross-state moves, unexpected job losses, overnight shifts to working from home, and the emotional roller coaster that is our collective lives right now, the NoPro staff found quite a lot: some misses, a few hits, and some pieces that almost-but-not-quite hit the mark.
— Kathryn Yu, Executive Editor, No Proscenium
Allie Marotta, NYC Correspondent
Currently in Brooklyn, NY
I’m currently fun-employed due to COVID-19, so I’ve had ample time to check out the developing field of remote experience. Some experiences that have worked for me so far are The Telelibrary, Please Don’t Touch the Artist…, Work From Home, and Next Time. These have all succeeded in making me feel at least partially connected to the work, which I have found lacking in a lot of other experiences I’ve taken part in.
I know the kind of intimate connection I’m actually after is near impossible during the current circumstances.
But I’m hopeful that this acknowledgment allows for me to find the bits of each experience fighting to find a way back to intimacy.
I’m less interested in podplays and things that are observation-only, as well as experiences that are missing a feeling of theatricality. These are all things I probably wouldn’t have found very engaging in the before pandemic times, and still don’t find very attractive now. Also: one major issue I’d like to highlight is a lot of onboarding emails haven’t gotten through to my inbox or even to my spam folder, so I’ve missed a few performances due to missing Zoom links, instructions, etc.
Something that’s almost been accomplished for me is the idea of using an experience to unsuspectingly connect participants. woolgatherings, Bedtime Stories, and The Invisible City all are sort of getting at this idea, but don’t quite accomplish it. I also think the idea of activating space that is inherently around the participant in an experiential way is interesting, and a lot of experiences are attempting it like Play In Your Bathtub and What Do You Need, but again I think it hasn’t quite been gotten right yet.
Asya Gorovits, NYC Correspondent
Currently in Jersey City, NJ
As an event photographer out of work, I am lucky to have quite a bit of spare time to indulge in remote performances. I even started a YouTube vlog, New Show New York, where I interview theatre artists experimenting with various digital platforms.
Because so much of social life, work, and entertainment involves looking at the screens, I found myself personally drawn to intimate interactive audio experiences with a high level of agency (The Ministry of Mundane Mysteries, The Invisible City Episode 2). I enjoy performances that closely mimic real-life interactions as nothing beats the honest, human-to-human connection (my home is a temple and look out from Capital W’s What Do You Need? Cycle, Couples Therapy).
I learned that one should be careful with coronavirus pandemic-related shows.
While some of them walk a fine line between the comedic and the tragic (SNAP CRACKLE PROP, My Heart Goes Zoom). One of them, The Corona Variations, nearly brought me to an emotional breakdown. Although I enjoy a good soothing experience like Play in Your Bathtub or The Office (by Whisperlodge), I am also not opposed to shows that provoke shock and distress if well executed, like I don’t want to see this by the Russian company Impressario.
Being able to attend theatre globally right now is very exciting.
Blake Weil, NYC Curator
Currently in Bethesda, MD
Transitioning into graduate school, I had just ended a lease on my apartment in preparation for student housing, which — due to the current crisis — has landed me back at home. Because of my tumultuous and busy house, I haven’t had the privacy to engage in much theatre unless it’s exceptionally late for Eastern time.
Of the shows I’ve seen, I’ve really appreciated the inventiveness. There’s been a real effort to try to play with different windows or tabs as different physical spaces in shows like Eschaton. At the same time though, living with family and not having much private space, it feels next to impossible to feel like I can “go” to the theater without being snapped at for chasing my family out of public areas.
It can be a self-conscious, awkward time to be a theatre goer. When you’re in your own Zoom box, there’s no way to fade into the crowd.
For those of us into alternate reality games, ARCANA has been superb. ARGs were what got me into immersive theatre, and they’re getting me through this rough patch.
At the end of the day though, I’m anxious to return to theatre once we won’t be risking anyone’s health.
Danielle Look, Denver Correspondent
Currently in Denver, CO
As GM for an escape room, I am working from home until we re-open, focused mostly on marketing and PR initiatives during this time.
I haven’t been a participant in any virtual immersive/interactive experiences except for game nights with my friends on Zoom, which has been great fun. The puzzle designer for our escape room enjoys — as he calls it — “playing game show host,” so he drew up several evenings worth of parlor games for us early in the onset of the pandemic. But interest seems to have waned over time.
I have, however, participated in a virtual escape experience as the gamemaster. The game was designed in the spirit of escape rooms with the goal of creating a team-bonding experience for virtual/remote work teams. The original product involved sending props to different players in the mail in advance of the game, but recent circumstances have called for a redesign that requires nothing be mailed to any players. Game masters like myself have received those props instead, and are quarantining them for several days before opening for game play.
The participants who I led through the game (in character) never really got excited, or played along with the storyline at all. But they were ultimately engaged in something other than work for the full two hours we were together.
Edward Mylechreest, NYC Correspondent
Currently in Charlotte, North Carolina
As a New Yorker forced to move out of the city due to the current pandemic, this has certainly been an unsettling time. So much confusion and chaos surrounds us, and for this writer at least, it can be hard to keep your head above water.
But what has simply amazed me, is the sheer force of will that this community has presented over the past few months. Ingenuity, adaptability, and much good will!
Many companies, both traditional and experiential, are opening their doors and sharing material and insights, to help and inspire others to produce new work during COVID. And while not all of the work may be finely polished, it is certainly encouraging to see.
Personally, I’m gutted that I haven’t been able to take part in many remote experiences during this time as I would like (moving one’s life 650 miles can do that to you). But I have been able to take part in the curation and creation of a few exciting upcoming projects, many of which are direct responses to this pandemic situation — things that weren’t even on the radar before necessity made it so.
Case and point, quite unexpectedly my fiance and I were asked by our church to give an online theatre workshop which is something we certainly weren’t expecting in a pre-coronavirus world. It in turn has led to us creating an immersive-lite audio experience.
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I look forward to the days when we can enjoy diving back into our physical immersive worlds soon.
Kevin Gossett, LA Editor
Currently in Los Angeles, CA
When all of this started, I made the switch from working in an office to working from home and ended up working crazy long hours for the first few weeks. There were a bunch of interesting remote immersive experiences popping up and I could barely keep track, let alone think about participating.
A few weeks later, things had calmed down and I could actually give some a shot. ARCANA immediately drew my eye because of the supergroup behind it. iConfidant, a spin-off of sorts from The Lust Experience did as well because of my previous participation in their last ARG. Both proved engaging and fun!
But, it was a surprise experience that was able to cut farthest through the din of these times. I opened my mailbox one day to find an actual letter (!) from JFI Productions, the team behind Creep LA and The Willows, with a letter and instructions to call a phone number on a specific day and time. They hadn’t asked anyone to sign up and it seems like they just wanted to reach out to their audience. I don’t want to spoil the call at all.
It wasn’t quite what I thought it would be, and maybe the experience was better for it: the thoughtfulness in delivering something so unexpected was genuinely touching.
Laura Hess, LA Correspondent
Currently in Los Angeles, CA
I’ve explored two multi-week alternate reality games so far: Quarateam and ARCANA. While Quaranteam didn’t resonate with me, ARCANA is an excellent example of an engrossing, intricate game specifically designed for Instagram and functioning beautifully within that space.
I was late to the Red Flags party, so I experienced the remounted, now remote version, which ultimately didn’t move me. What likely makes it especially powerful as an in-person experience doesn’t fully translate now as a Zoom video chat. The computer screen, technical stutters, and separation of space dilutes impact and shields the participant from the emotional weight of the reveal; within that confrontation, you simply close your laptop, rather than sitting next to someone and navigating the intimate, physical tension from a terrible confession in a shared environment.
I also hopped on calls with Next Time and What Do You Need? (Look Out). I found Next Time to be a delightful and unexpected ride. At various points I was contemplative, shocked, rueful, and laughing out loud. And although I appreciated the premise of What Do You Need? (Look Out), I wanted it to go a step further. If we are currently forced to seek connections through remote experiences, we need to consider how meaningful touchpoints can be extended to complete the circle of a show.
Whether single-event experiences or multi-week productions, my core observation is that productions need to question how their experience design is truly utilizing the show’s medium. Successful productions are carefully considering this and crafting the experience accordingly.
Shelley Snyder, London Curator
Currently in London, UK
Working on a Chromebook, I’ve learned to strongly dislike Zoom as my hardware can’t access the software version that allows you to see everyone at once in gallery view. That means I only ever see the person who is currently talking (or who has accidentally left their mic on with background noise). When given the choice for social appointments, I choose Facebook Video or Google Hangouts, and even then you still can only have one person talking at a time.
Has anyone seen a show that takes place in something like a Discord server, with a main stage performance area and “private” breakout rooms for more intimate or 1:1 invited experiences with the performers?
My triggers are always audience agency and offering some sort of reward for respectful opportunism, and I’m failing to see how digital shows are offering those.
Will Cherry, VR/AR Correspondent
Currently in Los Angeles, CA
This last month… was a doozy. While some industries are struggling right now, the VR space is soaring (or at least it seems that way). Social VR attendance is at an all-time high. And companies are grasping the need for a better telepresence space than Zoom or Skype. The entrance of Spatial, myXR.social, and Teleportal, among others, can be overwhelming.
In this Zoom-soaked era, we’re already feeling the fatigue from video conferencing. So I’ve returned to VR to return to myself. To make eye contact. Gestures. Feeling like the real me, even if my avatar is that of a dog in a three-piece suit.
This kind of telepresence also sheds light on new types of performance. Due in part to the success of The Under Presents, new doors are opening up for performance-based shows in VRChat or similar. None have the same finesse of a “real” show, but the heart is there. And the whimsy to match, glitches and all.
I’ve been so heads-down at a new job that I haven’t had time to enjoy these moments myself. Work/life balance doesn’t exist anymore for me, but VR offers me my respite from the noise; the performances found in virtual reality feel just as strong as physical ones used to be.
Zay Amsbury, NYC Correspondent
Currently in Essex, Connecticut
What has definitely not worked for me is anything that takes a firm stance on the current physically distanced situation we are all in. Or rather, anything that seems to attempt to universalize the experience. I’ve found those attempts to be deeply alienating.
If part of the pain of this all comes from how differently factions can see this experience, then an immersive piece that takes a hard stance on any point of view can recapitulate that pain.
That said, I firmly believe there is a way to communicate intimacy across the media that we are using to stay in touch with friends, family, and work-mates. If a feeling of intimacy can be communicated with old friends across Zoom, then the pathway exists for a piece of interactive art to communicate intimacy across Zoom. Someone will make it bloom at some point. Maybe someone already has.
Patrick B. McLean, Chicago Correspondent
Currently in Chicago, IL
Having waited until the last minute to write my responses, I had the pleasure of reading most of my correspondents’ responses before crafting mine. Each one I read had valid points that I agreed with or appreciated gaining insight from their experiences. But I feel there is an elephant in the room not addressed that dramatically shapes my responses.
The world as we knew it came to an end. And I believe we’re not going back to that world ever again. Maybe one that will have similarities but one that will not (and maybe should not) sustain large audience experiences.
It’s an uncharted brave new world on how to artistically connect and move audience members online. I find myself slow to be critical of new work being done online, disregarding dial in issues or Zoom crapping out during a pivotal dramatic moment. I believe in reviewing works the questions to answer are “Was it well done?” and “Was it worth doing?” Nowadays, if I find the latter to be present in the experience, it can make up for the former’s failings.
For the remote work I’ve seen, I appreciated Interface Performance Lab’s attempt to explore human goodness one-on-one. Thanks to Candle House Collective, I realize how much living I still do, even in the midst of a pandemic. Stay On The Line mailed me a deeply moving self-guided experience that got me to be creative again. My first LARPing experience with Moonrise Games has built to the greatest worthwhile dramatic dilemmas I’ve ever had to explore as a player.
The world as we knew it came to an end. But that’s not stopping creators and audience members forging a successful way to connect from afar.
It’s going to take time. There’s going to be a lot of failures.
But when we get there, it’ll have been worth doing.
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