NOW PLAYING: ThotBot Implantation Center

Rebecca Kopycinski’s ThotBot series first hit NoPro’s radar back in 2019, when word of the dystopian art installation/immersive narrative reached us. Now, at least two dystopian realities later, Kopycinski is bringing the world of ThotBot back, just in time for our new dystopia.

The ThotBot Implantation Center has reopened in Somerville, Mass this month, letting those whose ThotBots have glitched get a reboot. The process includes exploring Kopycinski’s installation set fully in the world of ThotBot, and an a/v concert about that world.

The Center is open, and is playing dates through Feb. 22nd with waitlist access currently available and a possible extra show in the mix.

We got the lowdown from Kopycinski about the new run.

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

Rebecca Kopycinski: The ThotBot Implantation Center is one of four “Episodes” (so far) in this dystopian story world I’ve been developing since 2016. This experience is meant to be as if you are visiting a government-mandated brain implant clinic in a post-apocalyptic world based in 1995.

The evening is actually in two parts: the first hour is a self-directed exploration of a waiting room staffed by a silent, looming Operative in white. One is asked to complete an intake form and then occupy one’s time:

• watch informative video
• read brochures about ThotBot and building a life in accordance The ULTRA’s ideology (It’s easy! Just comply, add Value, Redeem!)
• listen to a sample of the Suggested Thots Brain Training Program on your choice of personal cassette players
• familiarize yourself with contraband, many examples of which are found in a cabinet clearly marked “Danger”

The second half of the show is more narrative. Audiences are introduced to the protagonist that appears in all the Episodes: Reagan Esther Myer. They watch her intake interview for the ThotBot Pilot Program. We meet the character, learn where she was on Impact (“Never Forget”), and find out why she wants to enroll in the Pilot Program. The video is interspersed with a live performance of songs thematically tied to the story being told on screen.

The first half of the night is completely immersive — literally every item in that room is era-appropriate (pre-June 21, 1995, which is the date of Impact, aka the apocalyptic event in this world), and the ULTRA Tech is mostly there to make sure no one presses stop on the VCR (and to loom over people in a mildly threatening way).

Many attendees find their way to the installation by pulling tabs off posters hung around the city that ask “Is Your ThotBot Glitched?.” The URL navigates the user to a test on an in-universe website where they can determine their ThotBot status ( https://thotbot.me/glitch.html ). In that way, the audience’s participation in the world actually begins before they even arrive.

The a/v concert is out-of-universe (and after an intermission), just a bit of worldbuilding and character development and an excuse for me to bring in a musical element since singing is my first love/discipline.

NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?

RK: The inspiration for the larger dystopian world began during the 2016 Presidential Primaries when I posed the question: what if DT won? [HAHAHAHHAHA THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN] and all the awful things about the world — climate change, class disparity, misogyny, racism, etc — were blown out to the Nth degree. Then throw it all back to 1995 and add an apocalyptic event. That was my starting point.

The inspiration specifically for the Implantation Center was simple. After mounting the first ThotBot Episode, Reagan Esther Myer — a sort of one-woman multimedia musical — I thought: what if you could actually GO to a ThotBot Implantation Center? I don’t know where the ideas come from, but when one sticks around for a minute, I run with it.

I do pull specific little bits of inspiration from the news and world events (“Don’t you want to be great again?!”). And sometimes I think the world takes a cue from things I’ve invented? It’s wild to see certain elements literally come to life around me. A recent example: in this world, you either live in one of two decimated regions: The Plateau (forever raging fires) or The Valley (forever flooding). But those aren’t the details I’m referencing for this example. The recent parallel is Great Island, the only temperate place left in this dystopian world, inhabited exclusively by and for the use of The ULTRA, the totalitarian regime. Where is the real-world counterpart to Great Island? Greenland. You can’t make this shit up.

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

RK: To me, it’s not only the large concepts and design, but also the tiny characteristics and accents that work together to truly put you into a world. I think the devil is in the details and I work painstakingly hard to make sure that all things in this world are of a pre-1995 era. So if you’re of a certain age, there is a mega nostalgia factor happening. Take that and smash it together with allusions and references to modern times and world events, and you have an interesting little retro-futuristic mash-up.

The multi-episode format is also interesting to people. First, you experience this Episode, then you can experience the OTHER immersive ThotBot Episode, Remediation. That one is designed to be an underground meeting/seminar produced by the Resistance where one goes in order to learn how to purposefully glitch one’s ThotBot. Or maybe you attend them in the reverse order. Reagan Esther Myer (another Episode) after that. Or before that. Or After Impact (another Episode) first. They can go in any order. It starts to get interesting when you can pick up on the cross-references, tendrils, and connections between Episodes. But if you’re one and done, that works. They are also designed to stand alone.

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

RK: People will 100% press record on a handheld cassette player and record themselves over your Suggested Thots tapes if you forget to pop out the little write-protect tabs. : ) But for real, think about every little thing that can go wrong or be misunderstood ahead of time so that the experience is seamless and nothing is unexpected. Those tapes are write-protected now.

I suppose another unexpected thing with this installation is its popularity. The most popular thing I’ve ever created, by far. I didn’t know how hungry people were for unique experiences and events. To this day, it’s never NOT sold out. Still blows my mind.

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

RK: Wow, what a great question. If you have vintage clothes, those can be fun to wear. All my characters wear those old Reebok high-tops, for example. Read your Margaret Atwood, fire up some 80s commercials on YouTube….or listen to one of the ThotBot Episodes! It’s a scripted fiction podcast called After Impact (available wherever you stream podcasts…season 2 coming in 2025!).

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