‘From On High’: A Sublimely Surreal Workplace Satire Debuts In Denver (The NoPro Review)
OddKnock Productions makes a big splash with their first full-length show
Part of what makes a great immersive experience, for me, is having a decent runway heading into the performance itself so that when you finally arrive face-to-face with the actors, you’re primed and ready to interact.
A few days before I was scheduled to start “working” at BANR, I received a standard pre-show email disguised as a memo from the office which included “Tips for New Level 3s” to help me prepare for my first day on the job.
A few days later, once checked in at the front doors to the BANR office, onboarding activities ramped up even more. In the restroom, I noticed employee lockers labeled with the names Chelsea, Chonathan and Charity. Back in the waiting room, one of my new colleagues floated around checking in on all of us Level 3s. After selecting a lanyard with my employee badge (which identified me as Cheather) my co-worker Chessica (Abby Corrigan) gave me four pages of paperwork to read through and sign before running off to greet the next group. Skimming through the paperwork as quickly as I could, I noticed clauses like “will pay an annual salary of $10.16” and “for a period of 100 years following termination,” which gave me some sense of the type of company I was about to start working for.
Soon after, we entered the space in small groups to find a very standard, but very 80’s nostalgic, office setting. Cubicles surrounded me. Inspirational quotes lined the walls. Phones, file folders and paperwork occupied the empty desks. Everything seemed normal, except that the mood was exceptionally light and cheery because the stupid weekend was over and Monday had finally arrived; it was time to get to WORK!
After a short introduction to the “BANR family” by the awkward office receptionist Charity (Tiffany Ogburn), we were led next door to her desk for more employee orientation. There, she played a short video and gave us a few more tips, then released us to begin free roaming the fabled BANR offices.
Finally standing at the end of the runway that OddKnock Productions had skillfully built for their first full-length show, From On High, I couldn’t wait to get in there and figure out what, exactly, my new job was… and why all my co-workers were being so damn weird?
The main corridor of the BANR offices had everything you’d expect to see at a show recreating a Regan-era corporate HQ — desks, chairs, a conference room, file folders, plants — and things you wouldn’t expect to actually see, like functioning 80’s era computers with responsive, BANR-custom coding. Instead of being lit with sterile, fluorescent white light like a typical office, however, this workplace was dramatically illuminated in different colors that magically changed throughout the night depending on the mood or the situation.
Beyond the main office space, if you were adventurous enough to look around in any number of directions, there was a dark and cavernous room full of curious file cabinets and odd trinkets, a luxurious corner office, a teensy tiny breakroom, and a pulpit with pews. (Yes, one of these things is not like the other. But nevermind that.)
I’d been told by Charity to keep an eye out for Chelsea (Natalia Roberts), who would be able to show me everything I need to know (and should aspire to be) during my employment with BANR. So when Chelsea arrived and immediately asked me and a couple of fellow Level 3s to come up with a list of ways to increase productivity, we enthusiastically started writing down things like “skip lunch” and “sleep at the office” on Post-Its.
Chonathan (Nile Russell), the intern, made his way around the room dropping off cups of coffee right as we completed our list for Chelsea. That was good timing because she was scheduled to deliver a welcome speech to the new Level 3s in a few minutes, so I quickly took a seat in the conference room to await her wisdom. As Chelsea explained the bond of the BANR family, it wasn’t hard to miss her assistant, Chanet (Camille Taft), right on the heels of her every move nodding in agreement, mimicking her movements, and worshiping the very ground she walked upon.
Back in the main office area, I noticed that many of my colleagues had left for a meeting in a back room that I didn’t get a memo for. Instead, I overheard Chelsea and Chonathan reviewing a contract for his potential employment with BANR. It seemed as if he’d been put under a spell by Chelsea when she ripped the contract from his hands and tossed it to me, demanding I read it out loud. Suddenly, they whisked each other up in an intertwined movement sequence, my words providing the cadence for their act. Not only did the rigid, canned corporate jargon coming out of my mouth contrast beautifully against their liquid interpretive dance, it also felt like I was driving it — deciding when and for how long to pause, and which words to punctuate, as I provided audio texture for the movement.
Not long after, I ended up at the far end of the office with just Chelsea and her assistant Chanet, who had her arms full of haphazardly stacked binders as she hurried along trying to keep up with her boss. Chelsea rattled on non-stop for several minutes about all the things she needed to have done, handing me Post-It note after Post-It note with hastily written to-do items. As Chanet looked on at me with pleading eyes, I sympathetically attached note after note to the backs, sides and in between her binders. Her hopelessness was palpable.
As the “week” progressed, so did the vibe. Every so often a chime would ring, the performers would freeze and look up, and an unseen voice would announce the new workday. Just as we were getting comfortable with what to expect in the space, everything was turned up a notch. Vignette after masterful vignette unfolded, with the 9,000 square foot space being used to its fullest potential.
Many shows purport to be rewatchable, usually because they’ve devised alternate endings for certain scenes that change the outcome in some surface level way. But if we’re being really honest, that’s mostly bullshit, because the audience is left to progress through a linear track in just a different order or with minute differences.
From On High takes an entirely different angle, giving the audience agency to decide where to be and who to interact with as the action unfolds in real time. Sequences do not loop, but press onward through the ever evolving fictional week. It’s the old trope about choosing your own adventure… except you actually get to do that. If you split up with your group, they will assuredly have a radically different experience than your own.
Yet the show is so well-designed that, despite not knowing the details of everything that’s happening within the walls of BANR, the audience can connect the dots and piece the story together in real time. This is because the story isn’t that complicated (employee identity is tied to work, work takes advantage of employees, employees burn out… big time) which allows for artistically raw and emotionally stunning vignettes that are relevant, but not essential, to the narrative, and can therefore go in completely unexpected directions.
What seems to make this all possible is that OddKnock Productions have embraced the principle of a show with no proscenium. There is no audience, we are all colleagues! The genius of the office setting gave us new Level 3s a natural and easy way to begin interacting with the set and performers because everyone has a reference for corporate culture, even if we didn’t yet understand this specific flavor of corporate culture.
So it is with that anchor to something familiar that we are in turn freed to lean in to whatever absurdity is unfolding in front us — a game of tag, sexual harassment training with a plant, a cult ritual — and truly become a part of the show.
Not bad for a Level 3 on her first week on the job.
From On High from OddKnock Productions currently plays in Denver at 2550 Larimer Street through July 17th, 2022. Tickets are $35 — $65
Note: This event takes place in an office/warehouse environment with no air conditioning; dress accordingly, both for function and comfort.
For more on OddKnock Productions, check out our feature on the origins of the company.
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