Submersive Productions Returns To Public View With 'rECHOllection' Next Month

In early November, Submersive Productions will debut "rECHOllection," an open-air and open-ended theatrical experience next to Latrobe Pavilion in Druid Hill Park. Their first public presentation in twenty months, "rECHOllection" will be free to all comers who may stay as long or briefly as they like.

The company's first future-fiction piece, "rECHOllection" invites audience members into the year 2032 as the earth is beginning to push back against humankind in fuller force. A virus has evolved to cross between computers and humans, rendering digital technology unusable and has greatly reduced our population. Personal and shared memories are eroding. Air and atmospheric quality make it difficult to spend time outside without full-body protection. The practice of physical distancing has only increased. And yet, through these conditions, community members of Baltimore strive to find new ways to connect, express themselves, and attempt to heal from our collective loss of memory and companionship.

Due to a temporal rift next to Latrobe Pavilion in Druid Hill Park, denizens from 2032 have mysteriously begun to appear in our space and time. As the audience encounters them, Submersive will be on hand to simply curate the experience.

The open-ended format allows audience members to explore and choose which performers to follow at their own pace in a safe, distanced, open-air environment. "We're asking people to 'ease back into immersion' with us. An interactive, immersive experiences can always feel a little awkward, and now we're all in an awkward, in-between place when it comes to being out in public and interacting with people," says Glenn Ricci, one of the project's co-creators. "Some people may pass through the experience quickly, but those who bring curiosity and spend time exploring together with us should be rewarded with a richer experience."

"rECHOllection" is being devised through Submersive's own style of collaboration, eschewing the roles of author or director in favor of contributions from a team of roughly twenty performers and visual artists. The process is guided and shaped by a Core Creative Team: Mika Nakano, Glenn Ricci, Trustina Sabah, and Susan Stroupe.

Sabah enjoyed finding ways that people might seek human connection, hope, and joyful moments in what might be the worst of circumstances. "Our characters are sharing this space during an apocalypse-in-progress. So many such stories revert to the most basic survivalist themes and emphasize human conflict, violence and defeat. We wanted to explore other ways that story might play out. We're trying to tap into Baltimore's unique ability to respond to difficult circumstances in creative, strange, and often funny ways. More importantly, we wanted to make sure humanity has a 'win'; a hope for meaningful human connection despite limits to physical contact and an end to computer technology."

The project was conceived as a prologue to a future indoor experience that has been postponed due to the pandemic.

"Unbelievably, we had already started preliminary work on a show in which a pandemic virus in the far future creates extreme isolation. Then Covid-19 happened," says Stroupe. "The original idea was a metaphor for how technology was sending us into self-imposed isolation. But now that we do not need to spend time explaining what an actual pandemic might be like the focus of our world-building shifted. In many ways, we've been able to go in deeper and often weirder directions."

In a time when a lot of arts organizations are rethinking how they engage with the public, Submersive is excited to be offering a free, outdoor experience with the potential to reach the broadest spectrum of Baltimore residents. "Druid Hill Park feels like an honest reflection of Baltimore's population," says Nakano. "The responses we've had to our rehearsals so far have been encouraging. People arrive already open to an experience, which sounds like our ideal audience. The way the roads wind through the green spaces and by a human-made lake, how nature and urban are combined makes a perfect setting for our work."

Tickets are free, but donations welcome!
Venmo: @SubmersiveProductions
Paypal: info@submersiveproductions.com

For more information, visit: www.submersiveproductions.com.

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