The Secretive ‘Institute of Visionary History’ Comes to Light in Baltimore (Q&A)
We ask Submersive Productions about their new episodic series
When we last spoke to Submersive Productions in Baltimore in 2017, they were getting ready to re-mount their critically acclaimed production H.T. Darling’s Incredible Musaeum Presents: The Treasures of New Galapagos, Astonishing Acquisitions from the Perisphere at the historic Peale Center.
This time around, the company is currently in the middle of one of their most ambitious projects ever: a weekly episodic immersive series all based upon items “found” in the basement (which turns out to be a connector of multiple universes) where each box activates a new immersive experience. And one of these episodes is planned to be an eight hour durational immersive piece running later this month, one where participants can drop in and out of the performance.
We spoke to husband and wife team Glenn Ricci and Ursula Marcum, the co-artistic directors of Submersive Productions, over email about The Institute of Visionary History and the Archives of the Deep Now.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
No Proscenium (NP): For those who might not know your work, can you tell us a little about Submersive Productions?
Glenn Ricci and Ursula Marcum (GR/UM): We are a Baltimore-based collaborative artworks company that combines artistic disciplines to create memorable and profound audience experiences. We focus on medium-to-small scale immersive works. We began in 2015 with The Mesmeric Revelations! of Edgar Allan Poe and have produced roughly ten new works since then. Everything we create is devised and designed from the ground up.
NP: Can you give us an overview of your latest work, The Institute of Visionary History and the Archives of the Deep Now?
GR/UM: We discovered The Institute’s work in the basement of The Peale Center (the first purpose-built museum in the U.S. and where we performed H.T. Darling’s Incredible Musaeum).
The Institute was a centuries-old secret society that believed the Peale to be a kind of “thin place” where our world and others can more easily coexist. Their instructions for building The Archives of the Deep Now are like a found immersive piece! We built this strange room based on their specifications and each box from the archive activates a different experiment or experience.
Over their many years of existence until they vanished in 1997, The Institute developed dozens of experiments designed to answer all manner of questions. For Episode Four, for instance, the question we’re exploring is “How can one forge a new identity?” When our guest researchers activate the room, the experience they have forms an answer in each of their minds and we record those for our own records. We are not yet sure where this is all leading, but we feel it is building to something very important. The experiments have all been fascinating so far — they were truly a visionary group — and we can’t wait to try out more of them!
NP: Why did you decide to do an episodic series? How are the episodes connected?
GR/UM: We wanted to explore what is possible with a shorter form of experience in a smaller space. The best way to do that is to keep trying different things and involving different people. After H.T. Darling, which was over two hours long with multiple storylines and covering the entirety of that enormous building, we wanted to scale back and try something smaller, closer, more detailed. Part of it was out of necessity, but it was because in a big show people can get overwhelmed and miss most of the little details. Something that we love about immersive theatre is how close, tactile, and personal it can be. In a bigger show, you could miss out or just avoid that aspect.
NP: Is viewing all of the episodes in order required to understand the experience? Will any of them be available to view again in the future?
GR/UM: You can attend any one episode and have a complete experience. In other words, if you are confused, it’s not because you missed the earlier episodes, it’s probably because we like to make things layered, rich, and complicated.
We are definitely talking about bringing some of the episodes back. We are very proud of each of them and would like more people to have this experience. It took some time to figure out all the logistical, production, and marketing aspects for the project because we had to do a few episodes first to realize what it really was.
We believe there are a lot of people out there who would enjoy this experience and that we are just now able to describe it better and try to reach them.
NP: Tell us about your collaborators on The Institute of Visionary History and the Archives of the Deep Now.
GR/UM: We have a core team (Ursula, Glenn, Susan Stroupe, and Josh Aterovis) who planned the overall project and are constantly pushing to make each episode happen. We are like a hive mind at this point. For each episode, there is a performer we work with to shape their story and make it live in this format. There are also a number of visual artists and others who help make it all happen. We wanted to bring some new people into our circle of collaborators while also involving others who we’ve worked with in the past. There are big advantages to working with the same people for years — you form a sort of short hand and common understanding that is invaluable — but involving new people always brings new ideas to the mix and keeps you from getting in a rut.
NP: How did Episode 6: A Horse By The Tail In The Night come about? Is it really going to be an eight hour immersive performance?
GR/UM: Lisi Stoessel is one of our Artistic Associates and was the driving force behind H.T. Darling. She and Francisco Benavides (who played “GK” in H.T. Darling) came up with a concept and at some point decided it should be an eight-hour durational piece. When they came to us to pitch the idea, we were not sure whether it fit into The Institute format. But we knew we always wanted to try a durational, so we decided to go for it. Now that it is coming up, we are looking forward to the radical departure from the other episodes.
Yes, it will be eight continuous hours and unlike anything else we’ve done. The audience can choose which hours they want to experience the performance up close, and they can purchase tickets for as many of the eight hours as they wish. There will also be a separate “debriefing room” where guests can remain and watch what’s happening on a screen. Glenn will be in that room creating the sound and music live as the performance is happening. Lisi and Francisco have created a set of stories that are told and re-told and devolve over the course of the eight hours.
NP: How have audiences reacted so far to the series?
GR/UM: You know how good immersive work inspires discussion afterwards? This time we’ve built that into the experience with a “debriefing” phase where we record responses, provide additional materials to help interpret what happened, pour some tea, and let people discuss. Each episode is pretty dense, so this time to process it turns out to be very useful. People tend to hang out there for at least thirty minutes. Based on the responses we are getting, we think the episodes are pressing the right buttons.
We have some people who have signed on to the whole run and it’s been a fun ride for them. They keep telling us “thank you, thank you” so we must be doing something right.
NP: What do you hope participants take away from this project?
GR/UM: We always want to create a world that lets you escape and look at our current world in different ways. We want it to be fun, but have always avoided creating a pure pleasure experience. We treat our audiences for what they are: smart, essential to what is happening, and able to make their own connections about what the experience means.
With the stories told in The Institute, we are seeking to elevate lesser-known personal histories. Lately, a portion of the culture in this country has been trying to re-assert itself through brute force. We want to create some space for our guests to experience and think about how varied, rich, and diverse our country is, and celebrate the many ways one can live a life.
The Institute of Visionary History and Archives of the Deep Now continues with weekly episodes through December 2. Tickets are $15 — $35. Episode 6: A Horse By the Tail in the Night will take place on November 10 and 17, from 12pm-8pm.
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