NOW PLAYING: DIMENSION

Chicago-based immersive artist Whitney LaMora has an eye for the surreal, and that’s at play in DIMENSION, the 1 on 1 live theatrical experience and its interactive voicemail prologue Phase One.

The heart of the cycle is a 30-minute “conversation with a stranger who knows you from another world,” which takes place at Dorothy, an active lesbian bar in Chicago. Which means that this is a 21+ show, and ID is required.

We checked in with creator, performer, and Dorothy’s Creative Director LaMora about the new show which runs through July 27th.

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This is No Proscenium’s NOW PLAYING, a look at ongoing immersive experiences & events. To learn more about how your event could be considered for the feature check out How To Get Covered By NoPro.

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

Whitney LaMora: DIMENSION is a 1:1 conversational experience taking place during a normal night of service at Dorothy, one of Chicago’s only lesbian bars that I run with my wife. The concept establishes the audience member and the Guide (played by me) as knowing each other in another dimension and I have sought them out to know about their existence here. Our conversation revolves around themes of identity, roads not taken, regret and general humanity. The intimate, direct conversation is completely immersive.

NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?

WLM: Parallel lives has been a real topic of obsession for me in the past few years. It’s one of my favorite topics to talk about with my wife as we make a lot of business and personal decisions together — and one of my favorite things to challenge others with when they share a big decision they made. That combined with my ongoing vision of performing a show in an otherwise live environment got the concept going and now Dimension is born!

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

WLM: I think the immersive community is always looking for what differentiates a theatrical experience from a traditional theatrical space and having a show in a room where most people don’t know it’s happening is pretty interesting (at least to me!). It’s also an experience that is wholly immersive and focused on the audience member guiding a lot of the story and interaction — a real meaty gift for those who love to directly interact and talk about concepts that may not come up in everyday life.

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

WLM: I kicked off the experience with an interactive Google Voice voicemail project — I’ve had a ton of calls but very few messages. I think the concept is not something that people obsess over (like I do!) which is both exciting and can be disheartening when you’re trying to capture material from the general public (I sample voicemails in the Phase Two live project). Conversely, in my tech runs of the in-person project, when prompted to explore a parallel dimension they’d like to see themselves in, people have been immediately forthcoming and honest. So — shy on the phone, bold in real life? Awesome.

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

WLM: Call the Google Voice number (872) 395–3586 to get the wheels turning and even leave a message if you so dare. Otherwise a viewing of SLIDING DOORS will never hurt. :)

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