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Thursday, October 12, 2017
Get into deep 'DODO'
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: In the basement below their storefront theater in the Pittsburgh Cultural District, the team at Bricolage Productions has been thinking big.
Immersive theater is something I do not see very often but is also a form of theater that I believe has a very large impact because of the personal-ness that comes with it. This. exhibit: DODO, sounds really interesting because they are hiring actors that specialize in improvisation, so there has to be some audience participation. And the location of it sounds very intriguing by combining two different forms of art, that being the traditional form of the word: paintings, sculptures, drawings, and a very different art form: theater. The designs for this showing must have been very strange, because the CMOA probably has restrictions about how much can be changed, and a scenic designer would have to find a way to keep the audience focused and not let them get distracted by other works around them. All in all, this is something I very much look forward to seeing/experiencing.
I have been a fan of well-done immersive theatre since I saw Masque of the Red Death by PunchDrunk. I emphasize “well-done” because in my opinion, poorly made immersive theatre is even worse than poorly made presentational theatre: not only is it bad and gimmicky, but through the immersive process you become an unwilling participant in that badness. Thankfully though, Bricolage has a history of creating immersive experiences and a reputation for doing good work.
There’s something especially interesting about making environmental theatre in an immersive context. The audience is immersed in the work as we are in our environment. Though I don’t know very much about environmental theatre (I have read some, but not seen it live), it also seems like a *topic* that would be particularly effective in an experiential setting. Environmental challenges are so large in both scale and scope. We struggle to process their magnitude. I think it’s more effective to have audiences come to knowledge and emotional engagement through personal experience rather than being asked to process a story in a traditional format.
2 comments:
Immersive theater is something I do not see very often but is also a form of theater that I believe has a very large impact because of the personal-ness that comes with it. This. exhibit: DODO, sounds really interesting because they are hiring actors that specialize in improvisation, so there has to be some audience participation. And the location of it sounds very intriguing by combining two different forms of art, that being the traditional form of the word: paintings, sculptures, drawings, and a very different art form: theater. The designs for this showing must have been very strange, because the CMOA probably has restrictions about how much can be changed, and a scenic designer would have to find a way to keep the audience focused and not let them get distracted by other works around them. All in all, this is something I very much look forward to seeing/experiencing.
I have been a fan of well-done immersive theatre since I saw Masque of the Red Death by PunchDrunk. I emphasize “well-done” because in my opinion, poorly made immersive theatre is even worse than poorly made presentational theatre: not only is it bad and gimmicky, but through the immersive process you become an unwilling participant in that badness. Thankfully though, Bricolage has a history of creating immersive experiences and a reputation for doing good work.
There’s something especially interesting about making environmental theatre in an immersive context. The audience is immersed in the work as we are in our environment. Though I don’t know very much about environmental theatre (I have read some, but not seen it live), it also seems like a *topic* that would be particularly effective in an experiential setting. Environmental challenges are so large in both scale and scope. We struggle to process their magnitude. I think it’s more effective to have audiences come to knowledge and emotional engagement through personal experience rather than being asked to process a story in a traditional format.
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