I recall seeing the unusual play “Nassim”, by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour, in a theater on 55th St in midtown Manhattan on, I think, Saturday March 16, 2019, as produced by Barrow Street Theatricals.
The 75-minute presentation starts when the author presents a willing actor a script to read cold and act on first reading, often asked to tell stories related to pictures shown on a screen behind the stage. It seems a bit like a Rorschach test. Toward the end the audience can participate minimally, offering gifts like baseballs or an underfed MTA transit card. I did ask a question but don’t recall what now.
I had been intrigued by the concept after reading about it. Alexis Soloski writes this up for the New York Times.
On that morning at Union Station in DC waiting for Amtrak, I learned about the gun massacre in New Zealand which was motivated by “replacement theory”. I actually contacted another friend on the phone who happened to be going to, in order to film protesters. It was an unusual weekend. That evening I would go over to the Therapy Bar in Hell’s Kitchen after the play and curiously look up the culprit’s “manifesto” on my phone until it was taken down. The Therapy bar did not survive the coronavirus pandemic, the Industry across the street did. That weekend seems bizarre in retrospect.