“ODD MAN OUT” A LIVE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE IN COMPLETE DARKNESS RETURNS
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Michael Jorgensen
michael@jorgensenpr.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
“ODD MAN OUT”
A LIVE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE IN COMPLETE DARKNESS
RETURNS TO
THE FLEA THEATER
WRITTEN BY MARTÍN BONDONE
DIRECTED BY MARTÍN BONDONE, CARLOS ARMESTO, & FACUNDO BOGARÍN
PERFORMANCES BEGIN JANUARY 18
TICKETS NOW ON SALE
PHOTOS & TRAILER AVAILABLE HERE
New York, NY (January 6, 2022) – PITCHBLACK Immersive Experiences announced today the return of Odd Man Out to The Flea Theater (20 Thomas Street). Written by Martín Bondone and directed by Bondone, Carlos Armesto, and Facundo Bogarín, Odd Man Out begins performances on Tuesday, January 18 at The Flea Theater’s The Pete Theater, with the strictly limited engagement set to run through Saturday, February 19, 2022.
Odd Man Out is a LIVE immersive play in darkness. It begins when “passengers” enter a dimly lit space guided by a flight attendant. Passengers put on their headphones and their blindfolds. From there, the story allows listeners to immerse themselves in the tale of Alberto, a blind musician flying home from New York to Buenos Aires, Argentina, after decades of self-exile. As listeners enter Alberto’s story of love, prejudice and fears that were left behind, they experience a 360-surround sound, multisensory “journey.”
Because passengers are blindfolded through the entire duration of the flight, the action can be experienced by way of auditory stimulation, tactile objects and enriched smells. VIP passengers will be able to have their sense of taste piqued as well. All passengers will even feel weather happening around them. This experience engages and awakens the senses, tests limits, and ultimately uses the darkness to bring the audience to a new light.
Odd Man Out began at Teatro Ciego in Argentina, which has a 15-year history of creating live experiences in complete darkness. The theater company employs artists and technicians with visual disabilities in all their work. Forty percent of staff and creative teams are made up of blind and low-vision individuals.
A portion of the proceeds from the Odd Man Out will go to Visions (www.visionsvcb.org), which provides services for the blind and visually impaired.
The cast of Odd Man Out features Gonzalo Trigueros, Nael Raza, Ignacio Borderes, Alejandra Buljevich, Holly Connor, Andrés Montejo, Carmen Borla, Modesto Lacen, Victoria Raigorodsky, and Aksel Tang.
Odd Man Out features original music, arrangements, and music direction by Mirko Mescia, sound design by Nicolas Álvarez, dramaturgy by Carlos Armesto and Aksel Tang, and storytelling revisions by Matias Guzman. NY producers are Carlos Armesto (lead producer), Lola Guardone (executive producer), and Malcolm March (associate producer). Jonathan Vidal and Lucila Brindisi are Directors of Marketing and Communications and the disability consultant is Alie Gorrie.
Odd Man Out premiered at Teatro Ciego in October 2019 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Performed by six actors entirely in the dark, Odd Man Out relied on binaural immersive sound design, a delicate choreography and the innovative use of smell and touch to create the landscape of its world and characters with a cast composed of majority artists that have either partial or complete vision loss.
Following the Spanish production in Argentina, Teatro Ciego partnered with theatreC to premiere Odd Man Out in the U.S. in February, 2020 at an English-Language workshop presentation. The cast of American actors rehearsed in Argentina and presented excerpts from the play at the American Embassy in preparation for a New York Production. This was followed by a production at The Flea Theater in New York in November and December of 2021.
Tickets for the Odd Man Out LIVE immersive experience are $50 with “First Class” VIP seating available for $90. Odd Man Out plays at The Flea Theater Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 7pm; Fridays at 7pm and 9pm; Saturdays at 3pm, 7pm, and 9pm; and Sundays at 3pm.
Odd Man Out is also presented as an at home immersive experience where people are sent a box to their home with all the elements required to experience the play.
Senior and Student tickets are available for $35 and patrons must present supporting ID. All passengers must present proof of vaccination upon arrival. First class passengers receive an extra VIP experience prior to the main show, a VIP reception with refreshments, advance entrance to the space (premier boarding), and a souvenir.
For tickets and information, please visit: OddManOutNYC.com
ABOUT PITCHBLACK IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE
PITCHBLACK Immersive Experiences is a U.S. endeavor born of a partnership between U.S. theatreC (Carlos Armesto, lead producer) and Teatro Ciego of Argentina. PITCHBLACK is dedicated to creating theatrical experiences in complete darkness. A PITCHBLACK theatrical experience may be with others in a crowded room with performers around you, or it may be alone in the comfort of your home. But it will always be in darkness.
The partners of Odd Man Out include: theatreC, Repertorio Español, Firmenich, Sound OFF, the Low Vision Shop, Criollas, Guayaki, and GoBroadway.
CREATIVE TEAM BIOGRAPHIES
MARTÍN BONDONE (Playwright/Co-director) is a playwright, actor, director and co-founder of Teatro Ciego with over 15 years of experience in working in the dark. He has led the company through some of its most successful stages and is responsible for managing and supervising the space in Buenos Aires, as well as developing a robust touring schedule and the groundbreaking creative and team-building workshops Teatro Ciego has employed in companies such as Google, Nike, and Amazon.
FACUNDO BOGARÍN (Co-director) is a blind actor trained in the Buenos Aires Theatre School that specializes in pitch-black theatre performances and techniques since 2011. He has worked in a number of different performances and private events around the world, and over the last two years, has been responsible for coordinating and directing Teatro Ciego’s touring repertoire, visiting over 100 cities across Argentina and the world.
MIRKO MESCIA (Original Music/Arrangements/Music Direction) is a multi-instrumentalist and composer of music and sound for live performance. For years, his training in music composition and sound design has moved between the theatre, circus, and puppetry in cities like Granada, Paris, Copenhagen, and Buenos Aires. He studied under leading specialists like Jean-Jacques Lemetre, the musical composer of acclaimed theatre company Theatre du Soleil.
NICOLAS ÁLVAREZ (Sound Designer) is a musical producer and sound technician with over 15 years of experience in surround and traditional sound design. He is an active developer of immersive, binaural recording devices, and has been responsible for Teatro Ciego’s sound design for the last three years.
THEATRE C (Lead Producer) was founded in 2009 to move audiences and open minds by creating unique theatrical experiences that mix the seemingly un-mixable. They create parties, plays, musicals and special events that meld puppetry and burlesque, video and dance, acrobatics and installations, hip hop rock and salsa, and more. Blurring the line between disciplines and cultures, the company is a part of the next stage in American theatre’s evolution.
TEATRO CIEGO (Co-Producer) is a theatre company dedicated to telling stories in complete darkness. Every piece is a new world and a new adventure in which we invite you explore beyond the limits of your sight. We create completely immersive experience that awaken your imagination and challenges your reality through your senses, activating every part of your body. Teatro Ciego currently has 7 ongoing productions, including a gourmet show, children’s show and a surround-sound music series. Darkness allows us to perceive a new reality, without using our eyes, a fact that allows us to work with blind and low-vision individuals, 40% of which make up our creative and production staff.
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OddManOutNYC.com
Instagram: @OddManOutNYC
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