Highly Recommended Off-Broadway: ODD MAN OUT (HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Avenue; January 9-16, 2024)
by Gregory Bernard on December 18, 2023
in Theater-New York
Odd Man Out will return for strictly-limited nine-performance engagement at HERE Arts Center from January 9-16, 2024.
Odd Man Out is an immersive experience in complete darkness in which the audience hears, smells, tastes, and feels the story of Alberto, a blind jazz musician traveling home from New York to Buenos Aires after decades of self-exile.
The story is set on the flight back to Buenos Aires, with the audience entering the space as passengers on that flight. As Alberto tells his life stories to his seatmates, we start re-imagining his journey as he perceives it: in complete darkness. We experience his life as a young man in the 1960s in Argentina, and then his life journey in New York City. His girlfriend follows him there but she is ultimately drawn back to Argentina and its troubled politics. We take in these moments in a way most of us have never experienced a story: our ears, noses, skin, and palates are engaged in an immersive journey of love, prejudice, and fears that were left behind.
Because the audience members – “passengers” – are in complete darkness through the entire duration of the flight, the action is experienced by way of auditory stimulation, tactile objects, tasty treats, and enriched smells. Passengers will even feel the weather occurring around them.
Odd Man Out began at Teatro Ciego in Argentina in October 2019 as a fully-live, immersive theatrical production. Teatro Ciego has a 15-year history of creating live experiences in complete darkness. The theater company employs artists and technicians with visual disabilities in all their work. Forty percent of staff and creative teams are made up of individuals living with sight loss.
Odd Man Out is written by MartÃn Bondone; and features direction by MartÃn Bondone, Facundo BogarÃn, and Carlos Armesto; storytelling review by MatÃas Guzmán; and production management by Esteban Arias. Giorgia Valenti serves as Line Producer.
The cast of Odd Man Out features Esteban Arias, Carmen Borla, Agustina Cedraschi, Andrés Montejo, Lorenza Bernasconi, Mauricio Marte, and Giorgia Valenti.
Odd Man Out will be occurring during the Under the Radar Festival, ISPA New York Congress, and APAP|NYC.
Odd Man Out
PITCHBLACK Immersive Experiences
in association with Radio Drama Network
HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Avenue
January 9-16, 2024
for tickets ($45), visit Here
ten tickets for $10 available for each performance
for more info, visit Pitchblack Experience
Odd Man Out is also presented as an at home immersive experience where people are sent a box to their home with all the elements required to experience the play.
PITCHBLACK Immersive Experiences is a U.S. endeavor born of a partnership between U.S. theatreC (Carlos Armesto, lead producer) and Teatro Ciego of Argentina. PITCHBLACK is dedicated to creating theatrical experiences in complete darkness. A PITCHBLACK theatrical experience may be with others in a crowded room with performers around you, or it may be alone in the comfort of your home. But it will always be in darkness.