An immersive theater experience with nothing to see

There is nothing to see in Bristol Riverside Theatre’s production of Odd Man Out.

In what may be one of the area’s most unusual productions, Odd Man Out will be performed and experienced in absolute darkness — the darkness experienced by the protagonist, Alberto, a blind musician from Buenos Aires as he flies home to Argentina from New York.

“You’ll be smelling, you’ll be feeling, you’ll be tasting, you’ll be hearing,” said co-director Carlos Armesto, who is teamed with co-directors Facundo Bogarin and Martin Bondone, both from Buenos Aires’ Teatro Ciego (Blind Theater). Bondone, a playwright, is Teatro Ciego’s founder. Bogarin, a musician who lost his sight as a teenager, directs plays.

“In general, people describe it as igniting the senses,” Armesto said. “Their imaginations explode. By knocking out sight, you start imagining what you are hearing, and you make it more of a personal journey. It becomes more of a meditative experience.”

With Armesto translating, Bogarin said, “The experience is what it is to be blind. For blind people, it feels like a release.”

Instead of being offered on Bristol Riverside Theatre’s main stage — where An American Christmas Songbook holiday show runs Dec. 8-18 — Odd Man Out will take place across the parking lot in a separate building. The theatre’s 50-seat rehearsal space could more readily be adapted to the demands of darkness.

Theatergoers will enter a lobby transformed into an airport waiting area. When it’s time to board, they’ll put a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them and be guided to their seats in darkness. From there, they’ll experience the sounds and sensations of an airplane ride while the main character reminisces about his lost love and his life as actors create those memories.

Amy Kaissar, co-producing director at Bristol Riverside Theatre, wasn’t sure what to expect, several years ago, when Armesto, part of her Carnegie Mellon University theater program alumni group, invited her to attend a short version of Odd Man Out performed at the Argentinian embassy in New York.

“It was pitch-black,” she recalled. She worried someone in the dark would touch her in a way that might make her feel anxious, but “I felt totally comfortable and safe the whole time.

“I found myself still looking around. When I heard sounds, I’d turn my head to look at them and then become aware that I couldn’t see. It’s the little things — when the drink cart goes by and the person to the right fidgets in their seat. When it was done, we were led out.

“It was magical,” she said, so she became determined to bring it to Bristol where she and her husband, Ken Kaissar, had been named co-producing directors.

“We were very interested in how we could introduce our audience to the kinds of theater that were happening in other places, but not in Bristol and not in Bucks County,” she said.

This, Armesto said, is their first time venturing out into a U.S. run— something Armesto hopes will lead to a training school and the founding of a Teatro Ciego-like New York-based theater.

The goal reflects a move within the theater industry to widen its representation of actors and stories from diverse communities — including those with disabilities.

» READ MORE: In Hedgerow’s ‘The Pillowman,’ a bid for more inclusive storytelling

Being bilingual in Spanish was a casting requirement for most actors. Two shows a week are being presented in Spanish.

Bristol’s toughest challenge was casting a low-vision actor.

They found Aszkara Gilchrist, a blind Shakespearean actor based in Chicago. Her character, Julieta, sits next to Alberto, played by Gonzalo Trigueros. She hears the musician’s stories during the flight to Argentina. Another actor, Agustina Cedraschi, plays Julieta in the Spanish performances.

“Disability representation is becoming more of a movement in the theater community, and I’m honored to be part of it,” Gilchrist said.

“I hope the audience can empathize with the blind experience,” she said. But, she added, the total darkness the audience will experience is a “wonderful concept, but it’s not reality.” Most blind people, she said, are low-vision, like her. As practiced as Gilchrist is in counting steps and using a cane to find her way, she doesn’t always need it to walk in familiar places because she can see large patches of color and light.

That’s why Odd Man Out is challenging for her as well.

Her fellow sighted actors wear their blindness like a costume, she said, disrobing into sightedness at the end of the show. And the contrast between their situation and hers has been rough on her. “I have some emotional baggage. This is my worst nightmare come to life. This might be my reality someday.”

The audience may react emotionally as well — and can ask to leave the theater at any time, Kaissar said. Staff with night-vision goggles can spot an audience member in distress.

As interesting and novel as it is to present this play in darkness with a bilingual cast, a low-vision actor, and performances in English and Spanish, the play matters most, Kaissar emphasized.

“The immersion can’t be a gimmick. It has to be integral to the story and the story has to be compelling on its own. This the story of an Argentinian musician,” she said. “Because he is blind, the immersion into his deeply dark world allows me to understand his story in a way that I wouldn’t if I just saw him on stage.”

“Odd Man Out” runs Nov. 30-Dec. 18. Spanish performances are Dec. 2, 4, 8, 10, 14, and 18. Bristol Riverside Theatre Rehearsal Studio, 201 Cedar St., Bristol, 215-785-0100. brtstage.org or en español.

Smart watches and phones will be placed in secure bags and returned at the end of the show. Service dogs are welcome but, if possible, they should remain in the lobby where they’ll be watched by an experienced person. No late seating. Masks optional.