Chicago audience members experience Theater of Mind, David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar’s one-of-a-kind immersive theater experience, directed by Andrew Scoville, produced as part of Goodman Theatre’s Centennial 100th Anniversary season. Photo by Todd Rosenberg.
The mind of David Byrne has descended on a historic warehouse building in River North, where audiences encounter memoir made into theatre, memory into experience, and sensorial phenomena into story. Theater of the Mind is a collection of Byrne’s memories set into a multifaceted journey that questions his recollection of events and people from his past by exploring the trustworthiness of our own perception. He and co-creator Mala Gaonkar have made Byrne’s autobiography into a live-action, interactive event exploring the memory-making machinery of our minds. Byrne reminds us that our memories make us who we are, but because we each perceive the experiences of the world through our own unique sensorial interactions, who we are is shaped by what we remember. Thus, to tell the story of a person is to tell their recollections.
In Theater of the Mind, audiences—or participants—navigate a series of rooms constructed to capture scenes and memories from the life of David Byrne. Each participant receives a nametag for a person from Byrne’s past before being led into his funeral, where the character of David—in this case, expertly played by Lucky Stiff—emerges from an antique piano serving as his coffin. We learn something about the people for whom we serve as avatars as David recalls the memories he shares with them. Byrne’s memories serve as the experiential stage upon which we move through the various rooms and spaces of his mind while we are encouraged—and, at times, cannot avoid—wrestling with our own abilities to perceive and remember. When we follow David to his old job as a DJ at a disco, for instance, he invites us to try a small block of something that melts in your mouth. And though it initially feels as if this moment is a metaphor for memories of drug use, he then asks us to taste a lemon wedge he has prepared. But the expectation of a sour experience is transformed by the substance into a mouthful of sweet, juicy fruit flavors. Can our senses really be trusted?
Our David finds himself excited and amused by the nature of perception and the ability to hack our senses. While visiting David’s childhood backyard, he leads us through a game he played with friends tossing washers into a bucket. But to make things more challenging, David gives us goggles designed by his dad which offset our vision and make a simple toss far more difficult. By challenging our connection to our own senses, Byrne gives us a window into the way he contends with his understanding of himself. The goggles remind David of his dad, who fought against dementia, and a game of tossing washers releases palpably fraught emotions that—despite any faults in his memory—live very much in the present. As the actor playing David for our experience, Lucky Stiff magnificently navigated the journey of Byrne’s memory and the deep feelings conjured up by the relationships at the core of each recollection.
It is exciting to feel that you are walking through the life of a famous musician, but above all, this is a theatre of self-exploration. Each room visited during Theater of the Mind puts us closer to the life of David Byrne, but the sensorial subversions that await us at each turn also make us question how close we can truly get to knowing him. He is present with us, leading us through his memory palace, interacting with us, and addressing us directly. But we are only memories in his mind. And yet, we are also explorers of the mind—his mind and ours. As we move deeper into Byrne’s mind, we question the nature of knowing altogether. How can we truly know ourselves when the memories with which we construct our identity are, at best, faulty in their sensorial formations. But Byrne does not seem bothered by this. For him, it is just how the mind works. To live in the present means to embrace the complications of remembering.
Theater of the Mind by David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar, directed by Andrew Scoville, is highly recommended. Audiences should be aware that the experience does include a moment of complete darkness in an enclosed space and that everyone will be on their feet throughout the 75-minute journey. Theater of the Mind was also recently extended through July 12th. The production is staged Tuesday evenings starting at 5:30 pm; Wednesdays starting at 2 pm; Thursday evenings starting at 5:15 pm; Friday evenings starting at 5 pm; Saturdays starting at noon; and Sunday afternoons starting at 12:30 pm. Performances begin every 15 minutes. For tickets and a complete schedule visit theaterofthemindchicago.com.