Some people feel adventurous when they go to TKTS and choose a play rather than a musical. Others venture off-Broadway. Fewer make the time for developmental fare at smaller venues like the Tank and Dixon Place. I have climbed stairs in Chinatown to see artists stage experimental works. I will travel to Warsaw and see a British sex farce performed in Polish. Truly adventurous New York theatergoers might Assemble in the hinterlands of Red Hook, Brooklyn to see something new.
Buying a ticket to this immersive and unique event requires trust. The specific location is not identified until the day before the performance. That is mysterious. You also receive instructions to download an app and bring headphones to the venue. After arriving, a secret code will unlock your journey. Sit down and listen to instructions but keep your coat on. Go outside and follow the story. A warning informs there is “a little risk.”
I was fully engaged to see what Talya Chalef conceived. Assemble invites you to join Jane as she considers life at the age of forty. The app provides the direction and the voices will tell the story. Billed as a “guerilla, choose-your-own adventure performance,” there are indeed certain choices you are asked to make. Which way to go? The choices should not be fretted over, however, as the story is generally the same for everyone.
A store will be visited. You will be asked to interact with the environment. At the beginning, Jane will ask “are you generation X, Y or Z?” I am none of those but that is presumably the target audience. In one vignette, I was asked to open something and I heard glass breaking. A vacuum is turned on. The spoken sentence, “I’m leaving.”
When the storytelling is sketchy and puzzling, Assemble is at it highest level of quirky fun. Sometimes, however, you are asked to stare at a picture for minutes. A train is rumbling. Away? Those slow moments can get tedious. Your guide will tell you to follow an arrow. Then she’ll briefly become your therapist. “What is the arrow for in your own life.”
A great deal of delightful humor peppers this experience. One section is called “Tone it down and live it up.” Here, your group gathers to decant whiskey and talk liberal politics. Living and surviving in New York is a part of this journey. Assemble will consider “life, death, babies, new cities” and then deadpan “so many choices.” Many moments that Jane will have experienced by age forty will be pumped into your head. Some are interesting, some are dull and one or two are, I believe, meant to be funny but come across as slightly offensive.
David Blackman developed the app for this experience and the technology works very well. The voice over acting is very good (especially the fabulously droll sarcasm of the guide). The idea for this theatrical adventure is certainly intriguing. As I walked through this journey, however, my mind wandered and my focus waned. There probably is less interactivity than needed which makes the promise of a “choose your own adventure” fall short.
Assemble has scheduled performance times through February 2, 2020.