COMING SOON: Life Line

Set inside a support group led by a woman named Angela, Life Line is a drama that starts someone comes in and announces that they wants to end their life.

Over the course of the next hour, it will be up to Angela and the audience to convince Joe that there are still reasons to keep going. They will make gratitude lists, discuss the point of human existence, and debate which foods make the best “last meal.”

We talked with writer/director Matt Harry (Somebody To Love) about the new participatory production with plays in Burbank September 19th & 21st.

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NO PROSCENIUM: Tell us a little bit about your experience! What’s it about? What makes it immersive?

Matt Harry: Life Line is an immersive drama about what it means to be alive.

Taking place in a support group setting, the audience will help new group leader ANGELA (Dorothy Dillingham Blue) convince JOE (Taylor Karin) that there are plenty of reasons to keep going. Will they succeed? Or will Joe choose a permanent solution to a temporary problem?

While it deals with heavy themes, Life Line is a fun, thoughtful, and ultimately uplifting experience. By the end of the show, we want people to feel more optimistic than when they entered. Life Line is supported in part by a Community Arts Grant from the City of Burbank.

NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?

MH: I’ve struggled with depression since I was a teenager. Each day brings a new mental joust between hope and cynicism. Finally, I decided to try dramatizing my internal debates. Rather than list my own reasons for living, though, I thought it would be illuminating to crowdsource some answers. That’s how Life Line was born.

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The support group setting seemed ideal for this sort of debate, and it’s one that naturally lends itself to a narrative structure. It also lets us provide doughnuts.

NP: What do you think fans of immersive will find most interesting about this latest experience?

MH: Life Line is unique in a number of ways from other immersive experiences. First, it’s a grounded drama that deals with real emotional issues. While many experiences feature escapism or role-playing, we hope the reality of this show will resonate with people. The two leads add to this tone with superb, heartfelt performances.

Secondly, Life Line takes place at a site-specific community room in the Magnolia Park United Methodist Church located in Burbank, CA. This location adds another layer of truth and history to the show. Having hosted hundreds of weddings, funerals, and other life-changing events over the last half-century, you can practically feel the emotions oozing from the walls of this historic church.

Finally, our show offers multiple opportunities for participation. Audience members will make gratitude lists, plan their ideal last meal, and choose the ideal vacation spot. Our hope is that people will leave some new items for their own bucket list.

NP: Once you started designing and testing what did you discover about this experience that was unexpected?

MH: Early playtests quickly showed us that any blocking or performance which felt too “theatrical” needed to be toned down. If it didn’t seem like it could take place in a real support group meeting, then it didn’t fit in our show.

We also realized how tricky it is to move actors around when the audience is sitting in a circle! We spent a lot of rehearsal time making sure the characters could be seen and heard by everyone, while having grounded motivations for the blocking.

Finally, we brought in skilled improvisers to act as extreme audience member types, so our leads could practice their responses to some left-field suggestions. Dorothy and Taylor did a phenomenal job in these exercises, and I’m (fairly) confident they’ll never have to deal with such folks in a real show.

NP: What can fans who are coming to this, or thinking about coming to this, do to get into the mood of the experience?

MH: Life Line owes a great debt to works like Harold & Maude, Garden State, Girl, Interrupted, The Father, and The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time. I also listened to a lot of Frightened Rabbit, First Aid Kit, Lissie, PJ Harvey, Cat Stevens, and Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?” while writing the play.

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