Map of Now
Lucky Plush Productions pairs the aesthetics of retro video games with a turbo-charged line-up of Chicago dance, theater, music and comedy performers for The Map of Now, a radically new, interactive digital festival.
This festival-style event is hosted on an interactive online platform called Gather.Town, through which audience members (as avatars) choose their own adventure on a digital map of Chicago that highlights the richness of Chicago’s performing arts ecology in four performing arts venues across geographically diverse corners of the city. Each venue is mapped out in a way that accurately represents the physical space in a retro game-like world (think Mario Bros), and when you find a seat in the venue, you can click on interactive objects that link to performances recorded in the actual venues.
Participating venues provided space and/or other resources for artists to film their work in advance. In addition to highlighting Chicago’s diverse artists & venues, the event explores community connectivity in a brand new way.
credits
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Julia Rhoads
PROJECT MANAGER & MARKETING: Kara Brody
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Rachel Damon
SOCIAL MEDIA, MARKETING, & ARTIST RELATIONS: Jacinda Ratcliffe
FEATURED VENUES: Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Links Hall, Steppenwolf 1700 Theatre, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts
FEATURED ARTISTS: avery r young, BAPS Comedy, Chloe Johnston, Darling Shear, Jeremy Owens, Lucky Plush Productions, M.A.D.D Rhythms, Nire Nah, Omar Khalil Dyette, Sam Trump, Sojourner Zenobia
GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Brenda Wu
MAPPING TEAM:
Nathanael Card, Project Manager and Design Lead
Kellie Lu, Graphic Design and Map Developer
Hailey Qu, Graphic Design and Map Developer
DRAGON THEATRE PRODUCTION TEAM: Bora Max Koknar, Chief Visionary Officer
Rachel Nin, Production Manager
Lydia Feurhelm, Communications Manager
HOSPITALITY & TECHNICAL SUPPORT:
Ariel Aronica, Dana Cooper, Arturo Dirzo, Samantha Dzirko
VOLUNTEERS:
Mikah Baumrin-Daniels, Kim Goldman, Giau Trong, Ross Jordan, Jacob Buerger, Ali Lorenz, Stephanie Pacheco, Emily Soong, Isabelle Taylor, Katie Collins,
Jennifer Edgcomb, Meghann Wilkinson, Zoe Lesser
SPECIAL THANKS
Lucky Plush would like express our deep gratitude to Dragon Productions Theatre Company for their invaluable production support and Gather.Town expertise as we developed The Map of Now. Additional thanks to the Committee on Theater and Performance Studies at the University of Chicago, through which we had the opportunity to hire the very talented Kellie Lu and Hailey Qu to develop our beautiful map.
