An Immersive Theatre Festival About New York For New Yorkers Of All Ages.

Presented by New Ohio Theatre for Young Minds, the 2nd Annual UP CLOSE Festival – an immersive theater event modeled after the community organizing principles of Jane Jacobs – returns for a program of three new participatory works that bring Greenwich Village history to life. The event transforms New Ohio’s basement theater into an interactive archive of the neighborhood where audiences are free to navigate a 360° pre-show installation, then engage in a series of 10-minute pieces by some of NYC’s most adventurous theatre artists. This year’s program includes a life-size game of chess inspired by the ‘90s-era conflict between two local chess shops; a sonic laboratory with sound scientists from an imagined experimental wing of the famed Bell Labs; and a historical dig into the soil of the urban sanctuary that is St. Luke’s in the Fields’ community garden. Recommended for ages 5 and up.

The artists include Spellbound Theatre Company, with Lauren Sharpe, Robert Thaxton-Stevenson, and Ben Weber; Marisa Blankier and Christopher-Rashee Stevenson with Perfect City members Tyler Diaz, Jahmorei Snipes and Tiffany Zorrilla and project advisers Modesto Flako Jimenez and Aaron Landsman; Adrienne Kapstein with Bhurin Sead, and an Archive Apprentice team led by Trusty Sidekick Theater Company members Brit Lenae Gossett and Esteban Rodriguez-Alverio. Ty Defoe is an advisor to the festival. Marisol Rosa-Shapiro is the festival host, Pizza Rat. Produced by Peter Musante and Sara Morgulis.