WE INVITE YOU INTO AN EXPLORATION OF ADVENTURE, FUN, WONDER, MAGIC AND MYSTERY.
-Stephen Shelley, Executive Producer
Portal blends modern dance, immersive performance and a massive scavenger hunt which unfolds along the Boone streets. Participants are out seeking a unique, long-lost artifact only to realize that what they’ve been told they are looking for may, in fact, be something else - much more mysterious and magical. Along the way, they encounter performers, hidden clues and ancient symbols which guide their path.
(NOTE: Portal is adaptable to many large towns/cities across the world. The above was written for our inaugural performances, which took place in Boone NC in the fall of 2022)
A New Wave of Creativity
We view that immersive performance and experience is a powerful new wave of creativity and opportunity that is upon us, with “Sleep No More” in NYC being perhaps the singular example of the excitement and durability this form of art can generate.
Producer Stephen Shelley is from the Blue Ridge Mountains and moved to NYC in 1994 after graduating from UNC-CH with a dramatic art degree. Rather fortuitously, after living in the city for 3 weeks, he landed a job working as dancer/choreographer Merce Cunningham’s assistant. Merce became his mentor as he learned all about avant-garde performance and dance. Since leaving that role, he’s performed Off-Broadway, produced a myriad of events and founded/produced the Brooklyn-based BEAT Festival for which he was named one of The 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture. Stephens whole study for the last 25 years has been about how immersive theatre can make a difference.
His colleague in this endeavor is Bryony Perkins, a Punchdrunk veteran (“The Drowned Man”), musician and choreographer also resides in the Boone area. Bryony has created all of the dance material for the piece. Bryony is particularly interested in blurring the boundaries between art forms; improvisation; creating work that breaks down any false separation or unconscious hierarchy between audience and performer; and inviting the audience to participate more than they do in the classical theater setting.