SparrowSong

Immersive Interactive Performance Installation

SparrowSong is an interactive, installation-based theatrical experience, aimed at audiences of all ages. Co-creators Megan Flod Johnson, Daniel Fine, and Julie Rada have developed a rich environment in which the audience is empowered to design their own personal version of the story. In intervals, SparrowSong “shows” will consist of small groups of audience members passing through several semi-enclosed rooms full of interactive experiences in which they have the opportunity to interact with digital, analog, and tactile environments as well as encounter the performance, the live event between the girl, played by Rada, and the digital bird. The creators  are curious about how to reframe what is considered the field of "Theatre for Young Audiences." They are curious about live performance and interactive media. They are curious about how to tell meaningful stories with the body, in space, with technology, in non-linear, non-text-based ways. They are curious about how to immerse an audience in a magical environment. SparrowSong is a process that spans almost two years of explorations of these curiosities. It is a performance project that seeks to manifest these questions and share with the world.

Key Creative Team:

Conceived by:  Megan Flod Johnson, Daniel Fine, and Julie Rada

Megan Flod Johnson - director, installations

Daniel Fine - media design, installations

Julie Rada - performer, soundscape design, installations

Primary Artists

Brunella Provvidente - scenic design

Matthew Ragan - media design

Anastasia Schneider - costume, hair and make up, poster design

Adam Vachon - lighting design

Contributing Artists

Tristan Bustamante - installation art/scenic

Aimee Leon - installation art/textiles

Amy Masters - installation art/scenic

Andrea Silkey - installation art/bird sounds

Muharrem Yildirim - media installation/interactive flocking birds

“It is not uncommon to go to an art museum and view an installation with an interactive element, but that’s not storytelling. SparrowSong, however, tells a story via digital and analog interactivity through immersion. Families can interact with the story by stepping in and touching the world of the story.”

                               -Tyler Verti, The State Press

“Experimental theatre usually plays to a very niche interest group. But the locally-conceived SparrowSong, which opens this weekend at ASU's Prism Theatre, aims to create an inclusive environment for all types of theatre-goers.”

                               -Katrina Montgomery, The Phoenix New Times

Audiences interacting with digital projections.

Interior of installation.

Interaction between the physical and digital. The performer draws in chalk and the rest of the set is drawn in with digital chalk projections.

Performer interacting with an installation.

Audiences were invited to draw in chalk on the walls of the theatre to create an immersive space.

Performer interacting with an installation.