It’s Fringe Season in Philadelphia! For the next three weekends the city will be drenched in culture and creativity. Performances take place all over the city and the best of them stretch the boundaries of what we think is possible in the theater. This guide is a list of shows that I’m excited about because they’re diving into the intersection between games and performance. Some of these pieces and their creators are very well known to me; others are complete mysteries. All of them catch some curiosity of mine around presenting theatre in new ways that create investment and agency for the audience. ImmersiveLet’s start with the shows that make up Tri-Mersive Day from Immersive Philly. These three shows will all be running out of Immersive HQ and can be seen together when the stars align on Saturday, September 14th Know Thyself - IKantKoan Know thyself is an immersive game-theater salon that brings philosophy out to play. It’s the latest piece from the voraciously talented Jessica Creane. I was lucky enough to catch a playtest of this piece earlier this week, and I’m still thinking about the choices that I made in the end. Jessica is a huge inspiration of mine and helped lead me down the path towards game-theatre and game design. She is a master of transforming rigorous, profound ideas into playful, accessible experiences. September 5–7, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20 + 21, 2019 Tix and such Question Reality and Pseudoverse - Pseudonym Productions Pseudonym Productions presents an exciting gift in their return to Philly after four years of creating in Orlando. Question Reality is an immersive experience through over 6000 square feet of space that also opens the door to connected experiences through the Digital Fringe piece Pseudoverse and the forthcoming Halloween piece Dark Passage. This company is new to me, but the piece looks massive and disorienting and I can’t wait to check it out! September 10 + 12–15, 2019 Tix and such SPIES!! Even More Spying - The Agency Bureau LLC The sequel to last years SPIES!, this show looks to be super playful and engaging. This show wasn’t on my radar last year, so I won’t know what I’m in for, but with another year of development I’m definitely interested in what these folks have discovered. I’m excited by the different ticketing structure, because I think that’s such a good way to make it a game for your audience right from their first interaction with the show. This piece uses a text-message component which is a fun tech layer and a new medium to play with. I’m specifically interested in this show because it strongly casts the audience within genre fiction and that’s something I want to continue tinkering with in my work. September 10, 12, 14, 17, 19 + 21, 2019 Tix and such For more about these three immersive theatre pieces, including thoughts from their creators, you must check out this article over at the FringeArts site: 2019 Fringe Festival Spotlight: Immersive Theater ImprovisedShifting nomenclature here I found two other shows that have my attention. Myths & Monsters: An Improvised Hero’s Journey - Nick Gillette / Philly Improv Theater An ensemble encountering strange creatures and characters in an improvised story? Sign me up! Nick Gillette is another Pig Iron Alum; by the time I came to Philly he was already performing with Almanac Dance Circus Theater. Nick also has my gratitude for being the person who reintroduced me to D&D during an Almanac fundraiser a few years ago. I don’t have an inside scoop on this show but I’m here for any kind of improvised adventure. Nick is a dynamic physical performer and I look forward to seeing his take on the hero’s journey archetypes. September 4–7, 2019 Tix and such Roll Play: An Improvised Adventure - Roll Play Improv Around the time that I started working on Skills & Scars for last year’s Fringe Festival, I discovered these folks. They had been performing at Good Good Comedy, but by the time I found them, they had stopped running that show on a regular basis. I’m excited to see that they’re back for this year’s Fringe, and I’ll be curious to see their smash-up of improv games and D&D. It looks like their show is going to be a mountain of fun and I’ll be looking forward to how the audience impacts the story. September 8, 14, 15 + 20, 2019 Tix and such IntriguingTwo more pieces that I want to talk about before my show schedule fills up completely
The Island - Shawn Pierre I don’t know if this piece even is theatre. I know it’s a game, and I’m definitely going to try and figure it out. The Island is part of the Digital Fringe and simply tells us: “Rescue your friends from the peril they encountered on their vacation. You can only use your voice and your wits to uncover the secrets of the Island.” Honestly, this sounds like the type of thing that will have me stumped from the beginning, so if anyone wants to help me out, I’ll be very grateful to discover how this piece feels. Ongoing / Digital Fringe And such SplitScreen - Tree.Lock//Productions This is a dance theatre video performance that takes place in two different cities. I’m totally intrigued by the power of digital connection and distance at play here. I saw an early version of this piece quite a while ago, and I’m wondering what Meg and Sterling have developed. Sterling is a dear friend from my Pig Iron cohort and is always surprising me with his mad science. As a creator, I’m fascinated with the digital medium as a playing space between the two performers. I’ll be watching to see how that transforms the act of performance and how it changes the relationship with the audience and with each other. September 6–8 + 13–15, 2019 Tix and such There are so many more wonderful, wild, risky, revolting shows taking part in the Fringe this year. If there’s one that I missed and you’re dying to talk to someone about it, let me know. I’m a sucker for this stuff.
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