Idea by: TBD Immersive, Will Lowry
Built by: Justin Hicks, TBD Immersive
Our friends in TBD are creators of large immersive worlds, building playgrounds for audiences members to explore, finding narratives, characters, and easter eggs in every nook and cranny of the environments they take over. So when they asked us to help with their second production in their “Cabaret Series”, we hopped a plane to Washington DC, bringing a whole lot of tools with us. Cabaret Rising took place in the Dupont Underground, an art gallery in an abandoned subway tunnel underneath the famous Dupont Circle. In story line, the characters were living in a dystopian future where art is outlawed on the surface, so the tunnel was where the people went to express themselves. Working with environment designer Will Lowry, we built “makeshift” walls, towering sculptures, and assorted decor from recycled materials found around the city as well as from the tunnel itself. Pallets were torn apart for lumber, graffitied plastic sheeting was repurposed as surfaces, and even a dentist chair found in the depth of the tunnel became apart of the show. After the run of the show, the scenery was stored in the tunnel, where it remains in case the cabaret is to be performed again.
