HuffPost Arts & Culture: These Performance Art Experiences Prove That the Future of Theater is Now
HuffPost Arts & Culture
Really quite an honor to be included in such a stunning list. So happy to be amongst such shows as Sleep No More and Slutcracker (for those that missed mine it was basically a mix between the two). Many thanks to The Huffington Post for the mention.
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Sure, going to a play or musical can be riveting, but it can lack a certain element of surprise. Though the words and faces and costumes may change, an audience pretty much knows what they’re in for: the opening of curtains, the reciting of lines, the curtain call and the cue for applause (Exeunt.)
That’s where experiential theater comes in. Once you take the audience out of their seats, thrust them into unexpected scenarios, and force a bit of spontaneity into their workaday lives, real drama can take flight.
In this spirit of unique cultural experiences, we’ve partnered with truTV’s Fake Off to bring you six incredible performance art pieces whose creativity will blow your mind.
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Charlatan
Charlatan is a production that works off the premise of cold, hard lies. Vinny DePonto leads the show, which includes magic and plenty of audience participation. According to Theater Mania, the show “advances the idea that humans need deception in order to make sense of the world, and, more cynically, that human perceptions are intentionally manipulated by others at every turn.” Upon arriving at the performance, audience members are asked to write down a personal confession that is then placed in a sealed envelope at the foot of the stage. DePonto doesn’t reveal what these will be used for until the end of the show, keeping the suspense at an all-time high.
