SPACE OPERA

In development since 2021 and premiering in 2024, Space Opera is a game engine for building empowered community. Players gather over several days to tell the story of the sci-fi societies that they create attempting to survive an existential crisis, creating a democracy in miniature that is inspired by adrienne maree brown’s writing in Emergent Strategy that “science fiction is simply a way to practice the future together.”

CARE (ABOUT EACH OTHER) PACKAGE

Care (About Each Other) Package was a Community Supported Art (CSA) project. Just like a Community Supported Agriculture share, each purchase directly supported Philly’s cultural ecosystem.  Each piece of art explored themes of reconnection across change, distance, and the unknowable. Designed to look as beautiful as the experiences were meaningful, each full share of Care Package came with a one-of-a-kind box, 15 interactive performance guides, and a few handcrafted goodies. 

MAIN MENU

Main Menu is a 30-minute-long live performance piece for one player at a time that takes place entirely over the telephone, mimicking a customer service call. Players meet “Annie,” a new Interactive Voice Response system (IVR) designed by the enigmatic corporation Life Solutions, to solve all of life’s problems. Depending on their choices, participants may find themselves drawn into everything from sensual guided meditations, to trading songs with the AI call assistant, to sinister recruitment pitches.

“Sadness in the Mainframe,” ThinkingDance.

BARNES JAWN(T)

Barnes Jawn(t) was commissioned by the Barnes Foundation and created by Obvious Agency. 10 interdisciplinary artists collaborated with Obvious Agency to create original theatrical games. There were six Jawn(t)s between July 7th and August 21st 2018, and several ran concurrently on October 11th, 2019.

“The Citizen Recommends: Barnes Jaw(n)ts,” The Philadelphia Citizen.

GO TO SLEEP

Go To Sleep is a real-world walking simulator/adventure game about insomnia. Players enter a replica bedroom and interact with objects, triggering story elements and music that are performed and mixed live. Go To Sleep was developed and produced by Obvious Agency; Arianna Gass, Daniel Park, and Joseph Ahmed. Go To Sleep opened at the Art Church of Philadelphia June 22-25th, 2017.

WE NEED TO TALK

We Need To Talk was an awkward, hilarious, and deeply human improvised performance that could best be described as Dungeons and Dragons for relationships. Audience members and improvisers go head-to-head to act out a breakup in the style of tabletop strategy games. Roll your Charisma and your Compassion to see if you can make it through without breaking any hearts!

Cross Pollination

Cross Pollination is the utopian vision of Adrienne Mackey, artistic director of Swim Pony Performing Arts. This project pairs two artists working in different genres or mediums and asks them to create something totally new together. As the Documentarian for this project, I was tasked with writing a blog post for each of the residencies. You can read my writing about these trans-disciplinary collaborations on Swim Pony’s website.

My favorite posts are about the collaboration between Ken Kalfus (novelist) and Cindy Stockton Moore (visual artist) and the collaboration between Eun Jung Choi (dancer/choreographer) and Catherine (Cappy) Rush

Diamond Eye Collective

The Diamond Eye Collective was created on commission for Temple University Library’s Beyond the Page Festival by Drexel University Entrepreneurial Game Studio in collaboration with Daniel Park and Joseph Ahmed. This 90 minute game asks players to invade the Samuel Paley Library on Temple’s Campus and uncover the truth about a secret organization that hides in the bowels of the stacks.

More documentation here