Image via Quasimondo
Ordering a pizza online but letting the audience determine the toppings. Displaying a favorite object and having the actor guess at the backstory behind it. Or choosing a favorite YouTube video and sharing it onscreen.
This is the “party” we’ve been invited to, courtesy of Quasimodo theater ensemble. YouAreHereYouAre is appropriately entitled “An Empathetic Event.” And we all deserve that, trying to create and maintain creativity and connection during this Age of Pandemic. The 90-minute interactive piece (intermission at the discretion of the viewer) was created by Alli Engelsma-Mosser, Jeffrey Mosser (who also directs), Brendan J. Mulhern, and Sophia Tyler Shrand. It’s presented as a “virtual, interactive theatrical experience” but is more of an intimate evening among soon-to-be friends sharing, laughing, playing games but ultimately trying to connect while we are physically apart. It’s fresh, it’s fun, and by the end, a group of virtual strangers knows one another better. At least in the moment.
For the uninitiated,this is “theater for another time, another place” Which is right now. Stream of consciousness, personal, intimate. Call it “virtual voyeurism,” if you like. But there’s something fresh and exciting in anticipating what might happen.
Brendan J. Mulhern’s interactive piece highlighted this type of theater that makes Quasimondo’s work so unexpected but satisfying. Telling a story about someone’s scarf, a basket full of Easter eggs, or a colorful piece of glass was as humorous as it was insightful. And yet, each of the five actors find ways to weave in serious points to consider.
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“What is about making new friends when you’re older?” Bullseye. We all can relate to that in some way. Mulhern gets us looking introspectively as we begin the “party games.” It’s vulnerable even though it’s virtual, but even Alexander Quinones’ real-time piece on choosing and ordering a pizza goes beneath the surface (er, crust at least) as he explores what it’s like to have “strangers” choose for us—and then live with consequences. In this case, some unexpected topping choices expands his boundaries, at least of taste, if not beyond.
Theater has always been such a live, collective experience. But when it’s relegated to a computer screen, even Gallery View is not the same. Bu, Quasimondo shows us that we can find a way through this time and actually see ourselves reflected in others—beyond that screen.
We’re always looking for ourselves in others, to validate ourselves through others,” says actor Quinones bring us back full circle at show’s end. YouAreHereYouAre reminds us that in this Age of Pandemic, staring back at the screen and interacting virtually lets us keep the “party” going. Alone. But together.
YouAreHereYouAre runs through April 24, Saturdays at 8 p.m. online only. For more information, visit: Quasimondo.org
