{"id":25441,"date":"2019-12-16T07:00:37","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T15:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/?p=25441"},"modified":"2019-12-16T11:03:31","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T19:03:31","slug":"black-box-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/black-box-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Candle House Collective’s Black Box Is a Memory Trapped in Midair"},"content":{"rendered":"

Captain Jackson is mid-way through his career, jaded, with a wry sense of humor, but he\u2019s not cracking jokes now. It\u2019s dark where he sits in the cockpit, so dark he can\u2019t see a thing, not the clock, not the controls, not the sky outside, and he\u2019s in a full, complex panic. But his rising hysteria is cut abruptly and replaced by\u2026music? That is<\/em> music I can hear. It\u2019s weeks, maybe months in the past, and I hear Jackson and his new co-pilot Parker dancing to Ed Sheeran, of all things. They\u2019re horsing around with each other. It feels like a natural friendship is developing, almost sweet, but then the music audio cuts again.<\/p>\n

CUT: I\u2019m glad I crashed the plane, <\/em>Parker says.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the experience, I feel alternately that I have no agency to change these events – merely forced to listen to a series of horrible memories unfurling – and that I can<\/em> make a choice that affects the outcome of this disaster, but I\u2019m not sure what that is.<\/p>\n

\"BlackCUT: Jackson is screaming now, begging me for help.<\/p>\n

Now I understand. Of course,<\/em> Parker is glad he crashed the plane. The trauma he experienced at Jackson\u2019s hands makes him feel as if he has no other recourse to give himself justice. I don\u2019t know that I agree with his decision, but there\u2019s nothing I can do but comfort him now that he\u2019s trapped in this mid-air Limbo. He asks me if he should let Jackson go from his prison in the dark cockpit; throughout the audio cuts and Jackson continues to scream periodically as the walls physically close in on him. I tell him he needs to let both<\/em> Jackson and himself go, it\u2019s time to fly free. Eventually, he does. I tell him he\u2019s done the right thing, for himself if not for Jackson, who hardly deserves relief.<\/p>\n

CUT: No one will believe you against me<\/em>, Jackson says. The only thing that records audio up here is the Black Box.<\/em><\/p>\n

Candle House Collective\u2019s strength has always lain in the cohesiveness of their storytelling. The choice to put out six disparate stories for Under the Bed<\/em><\/a> is a bold one, pulling participants away from the long-form, interwoven narratives that made prior experiences like Moonlight Serenade <\/em><\/a>and Crossed Wires <\/em><\/a>so successful.\u00a0While Black Box<\/em> is a difficult experience to live through thematically, it is a strong entry that exemplifies the beautifully bleak content and strong performances the group has come to be known for. Themes of loss and terror have seamlessly mixed in with a kind of signature whimsy throughout Candle House\u2019s experiences – the very existence of the company reinforces the idea that truly anything is possible within the reach of your mind.<\/p>\n

CUT: Parker again, telling me he\u2019s keeping <\/em>Jackson here, wherever here<\/em> is.<\/p>\n

\"BlackCreator Evan Neiden\u2019s talent for the unique genre of telephone immersive narrative is again on point here, as he tells a difficult story about ambition, assault, and justice. Director John Ertman lays out Neiden\u2019s story, guiding performers Mat Benson as Jackson and Vincent D\u2019Avanzo as Parker into natural, impressive performances. Benson, in particular, is tremendous; at times I find myself pitying a man who is clearly struggling with his guilt, only to be nudged into a rage because of what he\u2019s done. D\u2019Avanzo alternately plays Parker with a disconnected passion that slowly comes back to him throughout the course of the call, culminating in a deep sadness that continues to resonate with me long after the line goes dead.<\/p>\n

CUT: There\u2019s no \u201cmillion miles to go,\u201d for most people<\/em>, Parker says.<\/p>\n

Black Box<\/em> is dark material, and certainly not for everyone, but it\u2019s a powerfully produced and executed experience. Neiden and Ertman work together expertly to craft a story that, while not likely to have happened specifically to a given participant, still resonates on a personal level with the listener. It\u2019s the kind of story that needs telling, no matter how uncomfortable, and Candle House has found a truly innovative way to do so. In a program like Under the Bed<\/em>, where some stories don\u2019t quite hit the mark as well as others, Black Box<\/em> stands out on virtue of its delivery and content. It\u2019s riveting, disconcerting, and a naked look at sexual violence that non-horror immersive theater often shies away from. Black <\/em>Box is a series of harrowing last words from a victim and his abuser, culminating in a kind of tragic triumph; it\u2019s a uneasy call that\u2019s well worth taking.<\/p>\n

\"BlackFind more information on Candle House Collective and their Under the Bed<\/em> series on their website<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>. Check out our\u00a0Event Guide<\/a> for more immersive events throughout the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Captain Jackson is mid-way through his career, jaded, with a wry sense of humor, but he\u2019s not cracking jokes now. It\u2019s dark where he sits in the cockpit, so dark he can\u2019t see a thing, not the clock, not the controls, not the sky outside, and he\u2019s in a full, complex panic. But his rising…<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":25448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[11840,11032,80],"tags":[3516,23225,11204,130,29,3586,22555],"yst_prominent_words":[1851,23218,6500,4355,17106,8741,11030,11027,6531,23217,7653,4858,188,4593,246,9060,1457,23216,879,1188],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/jon-flobrant-Cg9QlLuX120-unsplash.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrPML-6Cl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25441"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/becomeimmersed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=25441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}