The Objectives:

Totality was conceptualized as an experience that would immerse its audience of the natural world through a combination of dance, narrative, and interactive elements. The goal was to not only educate about threats posed to the environment, but to highlight nature’s beauty. Leurck had originally conceptualized the piece as a site-specific dance performance, but once I joined the project we were able to incorporate ideas for the world of game design thinking and immersive entertainment design to expand the goals of the piece. We hoped to create or reawaken a passion for protecting the natural world in our audience not only by telling them what they were working against, but showing them what they were protecting. We sought to use the trappings of fantasy and immersion not to transport our audience realms of imagination, but rather to showcase the magic that already exists in the real world’s natural wonders.

Totality: With Nature We Are Whole was an immersive theatre piece performed as part of the 2024 Miami University Ensemble Festival, during which audiences would be guided along one of the campus hiking trails by an Envoy of Faerie on a fantastical and educational journey to to learn about environmental threats and hazards in their own community, as well as the role they play within the symphony of nature. While on the trail, audiences would also be able to seek out mystical fairy artifacts, and meet mystical being such as Mushroom Spirits and the Seelie Court. I served as the Narrative Designer for the project, working off a concept by creative lead Alexandra Leurck, as well as playing the role of the Envoy.

Read a selection of my script frameworks for the experience here (research for these materials was handled by our Dramaturgy team, Colton Wolf and Elena Malott).

Read my descriptions for the prop design team here, accompanied with simple concept imagery assembled in Adobe Illustrator

The Processes:

The process of developing Totality began with many discussions between myself and Alexandra combining her choreographic skillset and directorial vision with my experience with immersive storytelling to create a unique and memorable experience. The piece draws a lot of conceptual inspiration from the various edutainment experiences at Walt Disney World’s EPCOT, as well as early concepts for Disney’s Haunted Mansion that envisioned it as a walkthrough attraction. The narrative itself draws more inspiration from the works J.R.R. Tolkien as well as the Forgotten Realms setting for Dungeons and Dragons. The audience would be greeted by their guide, and Envoy of Faerie, upon arriving at the trailhead for the path the experience is set upon. The Envoy would welcome them to the performance and pass out guidebooks compiled by our Dramaturgs showcasing flora and fauna common in the area, as well as further describing the environmental issues the experience addresses, for audience members to keep. The Envoy would then lead the audience down the trail, as well as engaging them in conversations about environmental issues such as runoff, harmful algal blooms, and invasive species. During their journey, the audience would also be able to locate magical fairy artifacts such as a wand, scepter, and amulet that they could present to the Envoy leading into further conversation. The placement of these hidden artifacts was designed with the intention of encouraging the audience to engage and interact with the environment around them. Audiences would eventually encounter the Seelie Court and their Herald, to whom they would present one of the artifacts they had found thus far. A dance segment inspired by the chosen artifact would then be performed, and the experience would close out with a final journey with the Herald and Envoy reflecting on the cycles of life before audiences would be given materials compiled by Dramaturgy guiding them on how to act on what they learned during the experience.

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The Olympus Pavilion Concept (Jan 2024)

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The True West Founder's Club (In Development)