TBD

TBD takes inspiration from the Bardo Thödol, or Liberation Through Hearing During The Intermediate State, known commonly as the Tibetan Book of the Dead. This traditional Buddhist text is an auditory guide to the process of dying and rebirth, and is sometimes referred to not only as a guide to dying but also a guide to living.

By asking people to install a free downloadable app on their smart phones, we'll be able to search for our audience and intervene in the lives—invisibly at first, shifting reality in subtle ways that may be indistinguishable from coincidence: your favourite fruit appears on your desk, someone plugs your meter, the barista compliments your new haircut. Taking place over three weeks, these occurrences will emerge from the backdrop of daily life as portents — disorienting, but also exciting as they become increasingly personal and engaging: you find a wallet containing a message for you, an eloquent stranger shares a thought in a crosswalk, you pass a panhandler who calls your name. TBD will only occur with each participant’s full knowledge and consent, they may opt out of the experience at any time.

TBD Demo from radix theatre on Vimeo.

Thematically, the goal of the project is to explore the tension that our constant involvement with technology creates by shifting our personal boundaries, redefining social interaction, and by compressing exterior and interior experience into something like the liminal realm known as the 'bardo'. The Tibetan Book will serve both as a structural anchor for the creative team, and as a guide to the audience’s sensual and emotional experience. 

Preliminary testing of the idea is complete and the Radix team is enormously excited about the discoveries so far. The idea works! We'll be running a prototype of the show October 19 - November 8th this year, and will soon be putting out a call for "guinea pigs." Maybe that's you? We anticipate final production in Spring 2015. Donate to the project here.