Looking Ahead: Worlds in Play

While this year is wrapping up, we’re already looking ahead to the first community gathering of 2024 in the form of Worlds in Play.

This new event at Arizona State University will draw those from the performing arts, XR, and gaming worlds who center their practice in the play for a week of workshops capped off by a summit.

As an official partner for the event, NoPro put a few questions out to the artists and presenters who will be attending Worlds In Play. What follows is a sample of their answers to our first, with more to come!

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Worlds in Play will host workshops Jan 3–5 and its Summit on Jan 6 & 7 at ASU’s MIX Center in Mesa. Passes start at $225 and subsidies are available.

What does the concept of “play” mean to your creative practice?

“I use a lot of games in my rehearsal rooms, especially in room where we generate devised materials. I don’t like to set all the rules myself, but rather, offer an instigating concept. I am very good at creating spaces where my collaborators feel empowered to claim their own points of views, as opposed to thinking that they need to be guessing or serving my individual vision.

“Unresolved Rage Game is the first work where I’m working on a “game” that’s audience facing. I am excited by how the audience my influence the outcomes of the stories through improv within the parameters we will have set. But the parameters will also be influenced by the choices we all end up making.”

— Ran Xia, Playwright/Director, co-creator of Unresolved Rage Game

“I see play as a creative act that generates its own emergent culture. My obsession has been to study how that emergent culture forms, and how I can leverage it as a design material. Whether it be software, physical board games, larp scripts, or actors, scenery and props, each of these generates affordances for emergent play. I know I’ve hit the jackpot when actors or players do something completely unanticipated through a spontaneous act of play. The slogan on my studio’s website is “the art of play,” and that really expresses the creative power of play, but games as an art form, an play itself as an act of expressions.”

— Celia Pearce, Co-Executive Director, Playable Theatre; Professor of Game Design, Northeastern University, hosting (Inter)Action Deck — A Generative Workshop

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“Play for us is about freedom to express the inner thoughts and perspective. We want to give participants the freedom to share their experiences through music.”

— John Yaw Agyepong, Creative Facilitator of GRX Immersive Labs, co-hosting Arts, Beats, and Tech & WTF (Where’s The Future): How Do I Unleash My Imagination

“There is no failure in play. As a recovering perfectionist, I enjoy an atmosphere where people are allowed to KO/Game Over multiple times. Art can make a larger impact when it allows folx to experience failure and discomfort in a well-guarded atmosphere. My hope is that through the power of play, the audience walks away with a deeper understanding not only of a project’s concept and ideas but also of themselves.“

— Michaela Ternasky-Holland, Creative Strategist & Impact Producer, co-hosting of Collaborating with AI & Best Practices for Care in VR, presenting Henerasyon | Generation w/Aaron Santiago

“For me, play makes space to explore difficult questions. Those might be questions that are difficult in an intellectual sense (e.g. how does a star transfer material gravitationally to a companion object?), an emotional sense (e.g. how can someone I care about be so different from me), a physical sense (how can I climb a given route with minimal energy expenditure?), or any other way you can imagine. I use play inside my practice both during the process, to unlock good questions and deep problems that exist between and beyond disciplinary boundaries, and also as an outcome, to help my audiences explore ideas they might not have had the chance to connect with before.”

— Janani Balasubramanian, Artist, presenting Heisenberg

“Play is almost never a term alone for me — my creative process can certainly include “play test” (like testing a game — or, in my mind, a performance or experience — for flaws or hiccups or even just unforeseen or imagined joys!). I also gather with my virtual community monthly in a format I call “unstructured play,” which is known as a set of activities that children dream up without adult intervention (like, for example, chasing each other with sticks because you’re all wizards).”

— Siobhán O’Loughlin, Performance Artist presenting Every Day I’ll Hope

“I think of play in terms of freedom and flexibility. I personally believe that when we’re truly playing, we feel safe enough to take risks that we wouldn’t be able to in real life. We can still have big emotions and real aspirations, but with much lower stakes. I think that’s why engaging in play opens up the possibility for people to connect on a deeper level, and that’s why it’s something I incorporate into so much of my work.”

— Risa Puno; Interactive installation artist, co-creator of Unresolved Rage Game

Keep your eyes on NoPro’s site & feeds for even more about and from Worlds in Play at the top of next year!

Discover the latest immersive events, festivals, workshops, and more at our new site EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE, home of NoPro’s show listings.

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