‘Untitled’ Seeks Mystery

Enigma is the intrigue of “The Untitled Project,” a self-conscious play that breaks the barrier between audience and actor, and focuses on the very process of making theater. The hour-long show will run in multiple locations—ranging from the Signet Society to the Holyoke Center Gallery—from Friday to Sunday, and aims to separate itself from the typical trajectory of many of today’s plays by remaining somewhat mysterious.

“I’m generally obsessed with uncertainty,” says Director Calla C. Videt ’09. “I work in a sort of haze of uncertainty.” Within the context of “The Untitled Project,” such uncertainty is almost logistical—the form of the event depends on the impact of revelation and surprise. The audience, she believes, should arrive knowing very little about the project, but instead should be drawn by curiosity; and the show, she says, is only effective when you don’t know what to expect.

“In a theatrical experience where you know what you’re getting,” says producer Kevin J. Davies ’10, “the plot is not as important as the spectacle.” “The Untitled Project,” on the other hand, is driven almost entirely by the text—because its aim is not to merely tell a story but also to create a relationship.

The relationship between actor and audience is achieved by certain interactive moments, moments that vary from show to show, and which are not under the actors’ control. Theater, says Davies, is often all about control. But so much of this play depends on what is happening in the room before the show starts, or the way the audience responds, that control seems to dissipate. Davies intends to make people unsure of whether theater can do more than just put a story on stage, whether it can blend the border between reality and fiction.

The story, however, is indeed important. “My aim has a lot to do with process, collaboration, storytelling,” says Videt. We live in worlds with so many excess stimuli, she says, but she adds that at the same time, “We are these storytelling machines; what draws us to tell each other narratives?”

“In a world of iPads, iPhones, and Facebook,” Davies says, “face to face interaction and live performance are falling to the wayside.” Everything’s available on YouTube, but in “The Untitled Project,” the aim is to counteract this prevailing cultural current with an intimate moment that the performers and audience share.

The border between audience and performers is central to the production’s goals, and emphasized throughout. When the show begins, it is unclear who is acting and who is observing. “For a moment everything is on the same plane,” Davies says. And this blending of roles, leading the audience to question the nature of theater, and what it can become, is vital to the goals of “The Untitled Project.” “The only way to continue to be relevant is to use the medium in new ways,” Davies says. “In 100 years theater will be completely different.”

—Staff writer Hana Bajramovic can be reached at hana.bajramovic@college.harvard.edu.