♪♪ Armesto: Immersive theater creates a world where you are enveloped by the story.

You are not outside of the world.

♪♪ Askaryan: We kind of like to think of every show as like a guided, lucid dream.

And these technologies allow us to tell stories like that that are dreamlike almost.

♪♪ Roth: That feeling of being part of something that is invading you and you're invading and that exchange is, you know, just thrilling.

Rossi: Can't look at your phone.

You can't talk to your friend.

You can't even tell where you are.

It allows us to truly break from the world that we live in in this moment and completely enter a whole new world.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Roth: "Blindness" is a story based on a wonderful book by Jose Saramago, and it's the story of an epidemic that is overtaking a city.

And that epidemic is blindness.

And the only person that remains sighted is the wife of the doctor in the town.

And she is our storyteller and our narrator that takes us through this.

♪♪ Because we've just been through such a terrible time, this story, which really points to the power and the the strength of community in a crisis, is very meaningful and very emotional.

The story itself, you know, is a dark story.

There's no getting away from it.

It's a psychological thriller, actually.

But what it shows us is that when people come together in times of crisis, great things can be accomplished.

♪♪ You're sitting here, and you're hearing the story in this around sound of earphones in the gorgeous voice I want to say of Juliet Stevenson.

And you feel as though she is whispering in your ear.

Stevenson: [ Whispering ] I can still see everything.

White.

Roth: There are parts of the story where I move my feet under the seat, because I think someone's going to walk right by and trip on my feet.

There's no one here.

But you're so engaged and you're so immersed in the experience.

Stevenson: [ Whispering ] They've abandoned us.

[ Normal voice ] There's something wrong with my sight.

I've gone blind.

Roth: The way it was recorded when -- when Juliet recorded it, it's in a sound around studio.

So that's why it feels like it's coming at you, you know, from every angle.

And you feel like she's right here, right here.

And you feel her walking away and walking back.

And the city sounds that you feel -- I mean, the technology is incredible, and the sound design is quite superb.

♪♪ When I first was lucky enough to own this beautiful space, which was the Union Square Savings Bank, and it's a landmark building, and it just sits so majestically on the east side of Union Square and turned it into a theater, it was my desire at the time, over 20 years ago, to make it into a really beautiful off-Broadway theater space.

And then I got a call from a young producer who said, "I really love your space, and I have this amazing piece of work --" We weren't even sure how to describe it -- "that is coming from Argentina, and I would love to do it in your space."

And he reiterated that he wanted the space to be empty.

So this was not, "Build your theater, and I'll give you your first show."

This was, "Don't do anything.

I want an empty shell."

So I wasn't too keen on that.

But once I saw the video, I thought to myself, "This is very exciting."

♪♪ It was called "De La Guarda."

It lasted for 15 years in this space before I realized that I was never going to really make a proper theater space out of this, because what was really more valuable and what truly fills my heart is doing this kind of nontraditional, immersive, exciting theater that can only be done in a flexible space.

And "De La Guarda," the minute the doors open, you are in it.

You know, you are in the experience.

And "Blindness," too, because when you walk in, you're ushered to your pod where you sit with the person you came with, and you put those earphones on, and that's it.

You're having an experience.

You're participating, but you're on your own.

Yet there are other people.

I mean, the whole thing is just mind-blowing.

♪♪ I think people actively feel a need to engage, and I feel that immersive theater gives you that opportunity to play a part and to be part of a bigger story.

You know, you are part of the narrative when you're sitting in a -- in a theater that has, you know, something going on all around you.

So there's something that is -- I don't know if I would say it's a cross between danger and excitement and the unknown that allows you to use your imagination in ways that you probably can't in daily life, you know, certainly not safely.

♪♪ ♪♪ I first read about "Blindness" when the Donmar Warehouse in London had done a production, and I had read the review in the Times.

And as I was reading it while we were in the midst of the COVID epidemic, I was thinking, "How did they do that during this time?"

And I started thinking about my own space, which had been obviously closed like everything else in town.

And I thought, "I think this is something we can do."

♪♪ This particular piece, which I think we have to acknowledge has no actors, and the parameters of the piece, allowed it to happen during this time.

♪♪ I think the beauty of being the very first theater to open was seeing and hearing how people felt coming for the first time out of this year of isolation and gathering together to hear a story, to share an experience.

And the beauty of that was the sense of a group of strangers coming into a space and leaving as a community, having just had this experience.

And I think it gave people a sense of hope.

I know that sounds a little corny, but people said that to me over and over.

They said, "I just love being with other people," having not been with other people for a year or more.

And it made me realize that's the power of theater.

♪♪ It's a piece of really powerful storytelling.

It just happens to parallel what we've been through.

But I think it's right, and I think it's a cautionary tale for any time, because things will befall us.

That's the nature of life.

And, you know, being able to see what the power of community can do and what hope and resilience can do, that doesn't go out of style.

♪♪ Alberto: What color do you see?

What color do you feel?

That's what I'm talking about.

♪♪ Armesto: "Odd Man Out" is an experience in complete darkness that you experience through smell, through sound, through touch, and even through taste.

♪♪ It's 2018, and this very young Argentine producer comes to me.

His name is Malcolm March.

And he says to me, "I've heard that you do very weird things, Carlos."

And he says, "Well," he starts explaining to me this concept from this company from Argentina called Teatro Ciego, which literally means "blind theater," but it connotatively means theater in complete darkness.

And they wanted to have a US presence.

So he explained to me this concept, and I said, "This is amazing.

I've never seen that in the United States, or at least it hasn't been in the public consciousness in any way.

Let's go see what this is."

♪♪ I fly down to Buenos Aires.

I experience five plays in repertory, and they are amazing.

It's almost like you're suffocating a little bit, you're drowning a little bit, because you are bereft of your eyes.

But everything still feels very much alive, and you start creating a sense of community.

And I said to them, "Okay, I love your place.

But they're also Argentine.

That's not going to work in New York.

Let's create something for New York."

[ Plane intercom beeps ] Man: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Pitchblack Airlines welcomes you aboard and thanks you for choosing our flight to the city of Buenos Aires.

Armesto: It is a story of Alberto, who is a blind musician, who is coming from New York to Buenos Aires.

As he's flying, he has an experience where he starts telling all of his seat mates and everyone around him, these passengers, about his life.

And -- And those lies and those memories come alive for him.

And we experience his life the way he experiences it.

Please have your boarding passes ready and your masks on.

You will all receive an exclusive Pitchblack Airlines Sound Off set of headsets and -- You purchase your ticket online, and then just like as if you purchase a ticket on kayak.com or on Delta Airlines or Aerolíneas Argentinas, that kind of thing, and then you come here, and we have a ticket agent that gives you a boarding pass.

And the boarding pass has the name Alberto Rinaldi, because you are living the life of Alberto Rinaldi, and you're sitting in his seat, basically.

There is a stewardess, a flight attendant that comes in and announces to everyone, "Okay, the gate -- You all are arriving at gate Pete.

Bring your boarding passes.

Come on in, and you will be given a headset and a blindfold."

You walk into the space, and you sit down to wait for the directions from the flight attendant that's going to be guiding you through the flight.

Woman: Thank you for flying with us.

Enjoy your flight.

Armesto: Some people can buy a VIP pass, which is the first-class pass, if you want to call it that.

And the first-class pass is -- allows you to have a more in-depth sensorial preview to what you might be experiencing in the story.

It's a sensorial experience in complete darkness, as well.

But it's -- it's more of a edible one.

Person: Feel the rhythm of the strings.

Taste the delicious spices, all authentic to beautiful Argentina.

Armesto: When we created this piece, it felt like it was a big meditation, in a way.

It's a sense of letting go of the outside world, and you're going to really focus and fall into this new experience that you probably have never had in your entire life.

The whole point is for you to surrender so that you can activate your mind to see things.

And the other senses are so primal, especially, especially, especially the smell.

When -- What we found that is it's -- it's such a fundamental sense that we have, that it ignites so many different memories, more than sight would, more than sound would.

And we -- That's something that we're leaning into in the experience.

And that's what's exciting about it.

Alberto: My name is Alberto.

[ Thunder rumbles, rain patters ] [ Glass clattering ] Woman: Mijo, what happened to you?

Woman #2: Tell them I'm not coming back to that house.

Armesto: We really wanted to find a way of creating empathy.

We wanted to get a sense that, okay, other people experience life in a different way, and that has its own richness.

So there's no reason to make it less than or greater than.

It's just a different, exciting experience.

So empathy was a big thing with that.

And we really wanted -- What we hope people get out of the piece is not just a sense of, "Oh, this is what a blind person's life is," but it's also what happens when you think about what other people are living in different ways of your experience and how you can communicate that.

How do you make bridges so you can actually communicate with the other person in ways that you never thought you could?

And that's a big theme that we're exploring.

♪♪ The wonderful thing about Teatro Ciego is that they really focus on creating work with blind and low-vision individuals.

So they focus on -- 40% of their artist staff, management staff, creative staff are blind or low-vision.

And we want to mimic that here in the United States.

And then that's -- That was always so exciting about the project for me, that we are creating a way for people who were blind or low-vision to create work that impacts everyone on equal footing.

♪♪ People, they are taken aback by the senses that they're being forced to engage with.

Initially, they say, "I was so scared to put that on.

It was so uncomfortable.

I didn't know what to do."

There are some people who say to me, "I just don't want to do this.

I just can't do this.

I just can't do this."

And then they do it, and they're like, "I'm so glad I did it, because it allowed me to really hone in on something."

Because it's in darkness, we let go of that sense, and we start experiencing the world on an equal footing as if we were all the same.

And what you see when you don't see is kind of exciting, 'cause it activates the imagination.

It ignites us in such a way that it really takes us to different places.

So I felt like it was an exciting project.

♪♪ ♪♪ Rossi: MoFE is a venue and production company for a new type of immersive experience that combines virtual reality and 3D Ambisonic sound.

♪♪ Askaryan: Soon as a guest steps into MoFE, it's important that they feel like they've stepped out of the streets of Brooklyn and into a completely new space.

So we designed the space to create almost that transition of consciousness.

♪♪ Now when it's show time, you're guided into the theater.

You're sat down in our theater, and the entire theater comes alive.

Man: You may find at certain points certain new or unusual sensations, thoughts, emotions bubbling to the surface that maybe you weren't expecting.

How does that sound?

Man #2: Great.

Freaky?

Kind of cool, right?

Askaryan: The lights that we use, the sounds that we use enforce that and help with that.

And then, of course, when they put on the VR headset, they're completely transported not just out of the theater, not just out of MoFE, not just out of New York, but somewhere completely different.

♪♪ Rossi: Some people say it feels like a hallucinogenic trip.

Other people say the show feels like you're entering into somebody else's mind.

And if you think about it, your mind is part story, part memory, part vision, something someone said to you 20 years ago.

And so the mind doesn't operate in a linear way, and neither does MoFE.

♪♪ Askaryan: What's incredible about VR is you don't have to follow any of the laws of nature, right?

You're not government by the laws of physics.

You can replicate anything that you imagine, which is powerful, and it's a simple but profound statement.

♪♪ Rossi: If you think about film or even novels, you have somebody who's framing that story for you, very specifically really guiding you through that story.

In VR, the director or the creator of the piece can't control where the audience member is going to look.

And so that kind of shifts how we tell stories in VR.

Girl: The energy that drives you keeps you alive.

In addition to VR, MoFE also uses 3D Ambisonic sound.

Now, Ambisonic sound is just a fancy word to say 360-degree sphere of sound.

So if you're familiar with something like surround sound, that'll operate on left, right, front, back, so it can give you that single plane of sound.

Ambisonics adds a Z axis to surround sound.

So now you can hear sound above you, sound below you, left, right, front, and back.

And of course, because we're MoFE, we like to play in the surreal.

And so our soundscapes both employ realism, but also employ surrealism.

♪♪ Askaryan: We could change even the way space feels.

We can make a room feel small.

We can make it feel gigantic by being able to play sound in different places.

And so what it does is it opens up new narratives altogether.

Woman: Welcome to MoFE's "Liminality."

Askaryan: In a lot of ways, the show we have right now, "Liminality," is a reaction to everything that's happened, right, in the past year and a half, pandemic and otherwise.

Liminality refers to states of great transition or profound change, and what else has the past year and a half been other than that?

And to be able to bring people together and share stories that have to do with the liminal, I think we're giving people a chance to process, right, what has happened in the past year and a half, not alone, but in a space like MoFE, where the central thing everyone indexes on are these stories of liminality.

♪♪ Rossi: One of the critiques of VR I often hear is that VR is a solo or insular experience.

And that certainly can be the case, but here at MoFE, we have everyone experiencing VR together.

And so when you take the headset off, you're forced to talk to each other to confirm that you both saw the same thing.

♪♪ Askaryan: One of the most interesting things for me when I hear audiences speak about "Liminality" is they all cling to different things.

It's not uncommon to hear two people talk about a particular VR piece, like the second one we show specifically, and for someone to say, "Oh, that was about love, right?"

And then the other person says, What do you talking about?

That was about violence."

And the fact is, it's about both.

But the experience they had is going to be different, and they're not necessarily going to see both of those things, because at one point in time, someone could be looking left in VR, and someone could be looking right.

And that's what's beautiful about it, is because it's 360 and around you and not a frame just in front of you, people can have different experiences.

They can see different stories.

They mean different things to them, to each individual.

♪♪ Rossi: Immersion demands your presence, and it really blocks your ability to be distracted by outside things.

And that's what really, really excites me about immersion, is having that focus, feeling really engrossed in a world, and being able to take a break from all of that distraction.

♪♪ Askaryan: Ultimately, our sole mission, our sole goal is singular.

And it's just to show people something new, something they've never shown before.

We think that's important.

And when audience members come out, and they all have these different experiences, and they all remember different things, to us, that's evidence that, at least to some extent, we're successful.

The show almost acts like a mirror to each guest.

And it's a chance, I think, to reflect on that, and it's a chance to reflect on why they saw love and someone else saw violence, for example.

Like, isn't that interesting?

♪♪ Rossi: For audiences, I think a lot of them must share this point of view that the world out there can be very chaotic, and immersion can give you a break from that chaos and also invite you to reexamine some of the things in your own life that you don't have the space or time to do outside.

And we definitely try to do that with "Liminality."

We don't shy away from topics that may be heavy or dark, and I think we want to respect that those are parts of life.

We want to honor the difficult things in life, and we want to honor them with art and with stories that speak to those points of view.

But we also want to highlight that life is not all darkness.

What that can do for the spirit is exceptional.

I like to say you are what you gaze upon.

And if you are able to take a moment and go into a VR experience with truly breathtaking visuals, you can become breathtaking yourself.

You can really embody that beauty.

And that's really exciting for us, especially for people who have to be stuck in their homes or don't have access to traveling.

VR can be an amazing way to have a really profound visual experience.

♪♪ Armesto: Immersive theater, it's about a direct connection to the audience that you really can't explore by sitting back and watching.

The sound and the music and the feeling and the cold, this has incredible potential to activate so many thoughts and ideas and feelings.

What I love about it is that it creates an immense sense of community that I feel like that's why I got into theater in the first place.

♪♪ Askaryan: It spatialized the way we could tell stories, instead of having the story occur just in front of you.

That changes how you feel.

That changes the feeling of the story.

That changes the communication in itself.

♪♪ Roth: Imaginative, immersive storytelling is welcome anytime.

You want to walk in and be surprised and dazzled and, "Oh, my God.

What -- What is this?"

And that's very exciting and adventurous for people.

Rossi: And immersive experiences prove that imagination can bring new things to life.

And if we can bring new things to life in play, what else is possible?

A whole new world we can imagine.

And we don't have to -- We don't have to accept that the future is dark.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪