Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – CAIRNS & HEAR THEIR THERE HERE: Ingenious, immersive sonic walk-throughs of Green-Wood Cemetery and Brooklyn Bridge Park, respectively

• By drediman
• September 8, 2020
• No Comments

For more adventurous theatergoers who are starting to tire of streaming content from the confines of their homes, fear not. There are a few options out there for you out and about. One worthwhile alternative – more akin to immersive theater than traditional theater – is to partake in sonic walk-throughs of some of New York’s scenic public parks. Over Labor Day weekend, I was able to tune into two such experiences, both in Brooklyn. I found both to be meditative experiences – altogether ingenious and imminently welcome outdoor cultural activities in these fast-waning days of summer.

Gelsey Bell explores Green-Wood Cemetery in “Cairns”. Photo by Maria Baranova.

CAIRNS
By Gelsey Bell
Accessible via Bandcamp

First up was Cairns (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), an exquisitely ethereal hand-held tour of Green-Wood Cemetery, a national landmark located just southwest of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. The project is the brainchild of Gelsey Bell, a theater artist and musician who is perhaps best known for appearing in such Dave Malloy-penned musicals as The Great Comet and Ghost Quartet. In both, she was a distinctive presence, particularly with respect to her fiercely flexible soprano voice, which she often wields more for visceral impact rather to accommodate conventional musical aesthetics. Similar instincts govern Cairns, which glides softly and organically between spoken word and atmospheric musical compositions. Given the setting, Ms. Bell not only imparts her own poetic musings on death and legacy, but also on life and the connectivity of all things. Namely, her deep respect for nature and passion for correctifying history (the lives of such unsung historical figures as Doctor Susan McKinney-Steward are singled out and chronicled at the their respective graves) prevail prominently over the course of the walk. The result is a soulful and contemplative experience that informs and enriches as much as it emotionally captivates. The path that Ms. Gelsey has us take through the cemetery isn’t always the most intuitive, but her intimate knowledge of the stunningly scenic cemetery has listeners exploring nooks and crannies that they would have likely otherwise passed over. Lasting just over an hour across eight audio tracks, the guided tour thankfully doesn’t outstay its welcome. Upon its conclusion, I was left enriched and yet still wanting more, which I suspect was Ms. Bell’s goal. Suffice to say, I subsequently continued the adventure by embarking on my own exploratory journey through the rest of Green-Wood Cemetery. A piece of advice – make sure to wear comfortable shoes (and bring water); brisk walking on various terrains should be expected.

An aerial view of Brooklyn Bridge Park, the subject of Geoff Sobelle’s “Hear Their There Here”. Photo courtesy of City Parks Alliance.

HEAR THEIR THERE HERE
By Geoff Sobelle
Accessible via St. Ann’s Warehouse

Brooklyn Bridge Park is the subject of Geoff Sobelle’s Hear Their There Here (RECOMMENDED), which has been produced in conjunction with St. Ann’s Warehouse. Similar in concept to Cairns but vastly different in its approach and execution, the experience veers away from the linear nature of Ms. Bell’s creation. Instead, Hear Their There Here invites open-ended exploration of the still-evolving park, which is located at the base of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. It’s a miracle that the park exists at all, given that it’s tightly wedged between the busy Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the historic waterfront. But through some visionary urban planning, which involved the “reclaiming” of a chain of piers, the park has captured the imagination of New Yorkers, affording them with majestic views of downtown Manhattan, Governors Island, and the Statue of Liberty. Although the piece was created by Mr. Sobelle, a boundary-pushing theatrical auteur in his own right (his ambitious productions include The Object Lesson and Home, both of which beguiled me), he’s nowhere to be found in this sonic walk-through. In his stead are the voices of a diverse set of park visitors (most of them New Yorkers), who opine on the park, the city, and its history vis-à-vis their personal experiences and biases. The interviews are in turn playful and wistful, and all are profoundly personal. Thanks to location-tracking technology on our smart phones, the tour app knows precisely where you are in the park, and it selects interviews pertinent to your particular location as you navigate through the park. At the end of the day, it’s useful to bear in mind that Hear Their There Here‘s was designed to be an art installation of sorts. As a result, it lacks the satisfying dramatic arc of Cairns. But as a passively interactive companion to your meanderings, it invites soothing reflection, ultimately giving the listener the potentially transcendent experience of experiencing the park – and by extension, the city – through the collective eyes of the community.