Given Circumstances — The Show
Donation protected
About The Project:
Given Circumstances is a hybrid theater experience where the audience is one of the game masters! Combining tabletop roleplaying game elements with immersive/interactive theater structure and fully improvised text, the performance is unique to the audience that participates.
"Given Circumstances" is a term from acting methodology, referring to the environmental, historical, and social conditions that influence a character's actions. In a nutshell, the pieces to homebrew a campaign!
Three weeks ago the pastoral townships of Squall’s End were leveled by a series of environmental disasters: a hurricane, earthquakes, forest fires, and all food grown in the townships turning to ash in their hands. Rebuilding around the rubble and radiation are Mayor Ibiscus Skyfall, tinkerer Kit Katteridge, and lone fighter Ilbryen Eilhorn, brought together when a mangy fox with glowing footprints delivers a mosaic key with a promise of knowledge long since forgotten. What follows is a journey to reconcile what you would do and what you would want to do if the world was wiped clean.
You'll experience:
- Interactive theater based on tabletop roleplaying games, with an outcome unique to that audience and that night.
- An equally engaging hybrid in-person/online experience, with an intimate audience.
- Writing and deciding the given circumstances of the story such as NPCs, obstacles, the antagonist! (collaborating with the GAME MASTER and fellow audience members)
- Three PERFORMERS as the heroes (or are they?), who respond to and improvise around what you set in their path.
- An exploration of power, privilege, freedom, and what we do once we have it.
Are you ready to spend the night as a Game Master?
Given Circumstances will take place April 27, 28, and 30th at 8pm, exact location to be announced.
Further details about the show and accessibility options can be found on the show’s website.
This project is my capstone project for the MA Arts Management & Entrepreneurship at The New School.
About Me:
I’m Violet Woundy, a director, stage manager, and producer. I’m a candidate for an MA Arts Management & Entrepreneurship at The New School, as part of a five-year program where I concurrently earned my BFA in Dramatic Arts. I’m passionate about creating new works that prioritize accessibility; experiment with hybrid formats; normalize/celebrate LGBTQ+ lives; and contribute towards purposeful, equitable hiring practices in the entertainment industry. I most recently was the Producing Intern for The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway (The Town Hall). Favorite directing/producing credits include Hang’d Like a Dog (The New School) — which I produced, co-wrote, directed, scenic & lighting designed, built, and ran the sound board — and the premiere of You’re Invited to: Jessica’s 10th Birthday Bash! (The Tank). Stage management credits include time at The Public, Hudson Classical Theater Company, Inspiration Performing Arts Company, The New School.
Explore my portfolio here!
Given Circumstances represents the culmination of my undergraduate and graduate education, and is directly responsive to the past several years. It was conceptualized to try and address multiple levels of accessibility: physical, monetary, educational, and community. So many people I’ve spoken to find performing arts spaces unwelcoming, unaccommodating, or stifling, for many reasons and systemic injustices. Especially when one is chronically ill and/or disabled. So many of my loved ones are excluded from attending and participating in performing arts due to a flare up of an illness out of their control. It’s especially unacceptable now, when online options were rapidly and easily available during the height of the pandemic, and are suddenly being taken away. There’s no going back to how our world was before, and we can’t ignore what has happened. It’s possible to make hybrid theater work well and be equally engaging to in person and online audiences, dismantling hierarchical traditional theater structure, if we have an open mind and a concentrated effort. That’s what my thesis experiment is focused on.
Additionally, there's been an influx of marginalized people exploring tabletop rpgs in the last several years, which I propose is not only for escapism. This genre grants one innate physical and social power, and the ability to truly defeat oppressive forces. I want to facilitate this collective (fun) catharsis that captures the magic of what live performance is able to offer. In the hopes the audience will form bonds with each other, and take this structure home to develop an artistic hobby within their own community.
Funding:
The money raised from this GoFundMe will go entirely to creative crew stipends. Any additional funds raised (and box office revenue) will be split among the creative crew, as this is an artist-first production!
Anyone who donates will have shoutouts in our program and website, and receive free access to the video on demand (VOD) post-performance.
Your support means the world to me!
Organizer
Violet Woundy
Organizer
New York, NY