Audiences often wonder about the nature of Walking Shadow's site-specific puzzle shows. Here are answers to some of the most-commonly asked questions about our production of Saboteur (summer 2011).

What is "a theatrical game with puzzles"?

Saboteur is a live performance in which the audience participates in the action of the show by doing large-scale, hands-on puzzles. These puzzles are interspersed with theatrical sequences (much like cut scenes in a video game) and the story is revealed through this combination of performance and puzzles. For an example, visit the walk-through of our previous puzzle show 1926 Pleasant.

Is Saboteur an audience participatory show?

Yes, but not in the way you might be used to. The audience isn't expected to act or converse with the performers. You won't be required to dance or wear funny hats. You just get to do awesome puzzles.

What if puzzles aren't my thing?

You'd be surprised - you may have just the insight your team will need! But there will be other people at your performance who love figuring out the puzzles, and helping them find solutions can be lots of fun.

What is Saboteur about?

We might tell you "Spies", but then you'd know too much.

Why so many performances?

Because of the hands-on nature of Saboteur, it's important to keep the audience small (around 15 people per performance). Therefore we added performances to give more people the chance to see it.

Will the audience be moving around a lot?

You should expect to be on your feet for about 90 minutes (though limited seating will be available in certain rooms and accommodations can be made for those with reduced mobility).

Will concessions be available at the show?

Bottled water will be freely available, but we ask that you bring no other food or drink into the performance space.

Where is Saboteur being performed?

Saboteur is being performed at a secret location in Northeast Minneapolis. The location will be revealed once you have purchased tickets. This venue is along major bus lines and easily accessible from a nearby freeway.

How much territory will we cover?

Saboteur takes place in one location. You'll be walking from room to room, but we won't be kidnapping you in a van and taking you anywhere. Total distance traveled will be just a couple hundred feet, all indoors.

What will I get if I win?

Success is a journey, not a destination! Saboteur won't have winners and losers. Don't worry, we're not going to time you, and we won't be comparing one audience against another. Sure, there are puzzles to solve, but it's more of an experience than a competition.

Can I purchase tickets at the door?

No. Because of limited capacity, all tickets must be purchased in advance. Prices vary depending on the performance.

Still curious and want to know more?

Read the Saboteur press release.

In March 2009, Minnesota Playlist asked Walking Shadow's Artistic Directors to explain our approach to season-planning and script selection. Amy Rummenie, David Pisa, and John Heimbuch put their collective heads together and wrote this article on the subject:

http://minnesotaplaylist.com/magazine/article/2009/03/08/reading-awesomeness

In October of 2006, Minnesota Fringe Festival’s New News interviewed Walking Shadow company member John Heimbuch. Topics included Walking Shadow's recently-closed production of 1926 Pleasant and the upcoming Seventy Scenes of Halloween, as well as the launch of our first full season. The full text of that interview has been reprinted here.
 

Minnesota Fringe Festival New News: Congratulations on your 2006 Fringe show 1926 Pleasant!

John Heimbuch: Thanks. It was a lot of fun.

MFFNN: Were you surprised on how well the show was received?

JH: Pleasantly. We anticipated that it might do well - but it was a shock how much word of mouth there was. Everyone had heard about us.

MFFNN: When did you first decide to do a site-specific show?  How did you decide on the site of an empty condo?

JH: Walking Shadow company member David Pisa had been developing large-scale treasure-hunts for awhile now. Last winter he ran a fairly intense weeks-long puzzle hunt for the cast and crew of Aladdin Jr. at the Children's Theatre. Afterwards our fellow company member Amy Rummenie suggested that he create a puzzle-hunt Fringe show. We spent many hours looking for good sites - bookstores and art galleries especially, and even thought about creating something that spanned several Fringe venues, but the logistics were ridiculous. One of our board members suggested this beautifully renovated building she owned. A great location with an interesting history, and handicapped accessible. Perfect.

MFFNN: Everyone was impressed by David Pisa's mad puzzle skills! Where on earth did those come from?

JH: We're big nerds. The entire company used to be avid fans of puzzle-based computer games like Zork, King's Quest, and Seventh Guest. David's a natural problem-solver. He knows how to look at a problem and either see the answer or work diligently to find one. There's a very small difference between passionate puzzle-solvers and passionate puzzle-makers. David started creating his own puzzle-hunts in college and continues to develop them as an active hobby. In other words, he learned by paying attention and practice practice practice.

MFFNN: What was the biggest challenge in putting the show together? Did you modify the show as the Fringe progressed? The most unexpected outcome?

JH: It was unlike anything we had created before. Nor did we have any examples to turn to. This particular type of audience interaction, combining puzzles and theatre, seems to be completely unknown territory. So we brainstormed hundreds of ideas, devised some puzzles, and structured the story around them. It reminded me of the Oulipo literary group - where the constraints of form are more important than the aesthetic results. As an artist you have to say "These are my limitations, how can I use them to make a satisfying experience?" Most people seemed satisfied with the results, and a few weren't - that happens. But the positive audience response is only a secondary satisfaction to having achieved our primary goal of creating a successful marriage of puzzle and theatrical form. There were many stressful moments, but in the end I think it was worth it.

There were slight changes every night to eliminate false positive results, or prevent the audience from finding red herrings. We intentionally never defined the boundaries of the audience, and as result discovered that the show was very easy to break, and even easier if you tried. There were three notable incidents during the course of the production: Our first audience missed both introductory clues and went immediately out to the patio where Cherri and I were sitting, after staring at us for a nerve-wracking two minutes David snuck out of the tech room and handed them the clue envelope. In one performance we accidentally switched two clues the audience received, and skipped to the end of the show as a result. And one gentleman entered the space and immediately picked the lock to the final room.

As the festival went on we became concerned, and justifiably so, that the audiences who were attending 1926 Pleasant were coming only because it was a hot ticket, and not because they had a great passion for puzzle-solving or experimental theatre. While in theory the show was built so that anyone could enjoy it, it's possible that some of our target audience missed out as a result. To address that concern, we put up a complete walkthrough of the show on our website. You can view it here.

MFFNN: Any fun behind-the-scenes stories you can share?

JH: We get to keep some secrets.

MFFNN: We saw Walking Shadow at the 2004 Fringe with The Lives of the Most Notorious Highwaymen. Was that the company's first production?

JH: It was. Amy Rummenie and I produced a show in the 2001 Fringe because Dean J. Seal told us to. We used an obscure pagelong script by Edward Gorey and combined his scenarios with a melodramatic acting style and parlor mystery plot devices. It worked like a dream. Dean saw the show and was kind enough to call it "perfect". Two years later he cornered us at the Fringe afterparty and vehemently insisted we do another show. David Pisa assisted us in creating The Lives of the Most Notorious Highwaymen and Walking Shadow became an official entity as a result of that production.

MFFNN: Why did you choose Seventy Scenes of Halloween as your next project?

JH: We wanted to try doing a holiday show, but Christmas isn't really our thing. Actually, we've had our eye on this script for awhile now. Basically, it's a rollercoaster - from the first to the seventieth scene the actors are always 'on'. Adjacent scenes don't necessarily have anything to do with each other, which allows for many possible interpretations, sort of like an onstage Kuleshov Effect. And, to be entirely honest, I have a soft spot for modular plays.

MFFNN: Are there really seventy different scenes?

JH: There are only sixty-six scenes. Four scenes were removed from the original production and never re-instated. The playwright Jeffrey M. Jones kept the title because he liked the erroneous specificity of it.

MFFNN: How scary is it on a scale of 1 (little kid dressed as a ghost) to 10 (watching Psycho on a rainy night)?

JH: It runs the spectrum, mostly hanging out around 3, with occasional spikes to 10. But when the script isn't scary, it can be astoundingly funny. There are a lot of sheets.

MFFNN: Aren't you exhausted from the Fringe? Where did you find the energy to produce an entirely new production so soon after August?

JH: You just do. We wanted to hit the ground running this year and we're working pretty hard to accomplish that, but it's made easier because we're lucky enough to be supported by a dedicated audience and many talented artists.

MFFNN: What other projects are you working on right now?

JH: The next two shows in our season: The Cryptogram, written by David Mamet and directed by Annelise Christ; and Fat Pig, written by Neil LaBute and directed by Amy Rummenie. Personally, I'm writing for Hardcover Theater's London After Midnight series and preparing to collaborate on Or the White Whale with director Jon Ferguson for Civic Stage and the Southern Theatre while David and Amy research scripts and plan our next season.

MFFNN: Many people who read the Fringe Web site are thinking about taking that initial leap of faith - to produce, perform or write their very first Fringe show. What advice do you have for a first-time producer or performer deciding whether or not to submit an application for the 2007 Fringe?

JH: When I look at the costs of creating art in Minnesota compared to other cities I'm astounded by the difference. In New York it costs a small fortune to rehearse a Fringe-scale show, let alone perform and promote it. The Twin Cities occasionally reminds me of Lost Generation Paris or 1970's Manhattan as an inexpensive place to create amazing work. But the major difference is that audiences of those eras had a passionate need, born from societal desperation, to see art that was new, risky and unique. Generally speaking, Americans are still too comfortable to passionately need artwork that challenges us. But for whatever reason, during the Fringe Festival people find that passion, and this makes it Minnesota's best place to take artistic risks.

If you have an idea, go for it. See what others are doing. Look at what succeeds and what doesn't. Don't be afraid to ask anyone for help. Determine what you want to accomplish, and do it in the most distinctive way you can. There's no better place to cut your teeth than the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

MFFNN: Thank you so much!

JH: You're welcome. Thank you!

Reprinted with permission from the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice dates to ancient Greece, and exists in no one standard version. You may have heard the story before roughly in the way it was told in the first century BCE by Virgil (in The Georgics) and shortly later by Ovid (in Metamorphoses), or retold in the twentieth century by Edith Hamilton in her Mythology.

These three versions are essentially outlines, no longer than a couple pages each, but many authors, poets, playwrights, composers and others have adapted the story, adding embellishments and adjusting the ending, so that the tale remains firmly in the oral tradition, belonging to everyone.

These are the basics of the story: Orpheus is the finest musician in the world. Though mortal himself, his playing is magical: “He moved the rocks on the hillside and turned the courses of the rivers” (Hamilton). Orpheus and Eurydice are young and deeply in love. But directly after the wedding, Eurydice is bitten by a snake and dies. (In some versions, she is bitten while being pursued by another man who is in love with her.)

Orpheus vows to bring her back, and travels to the underworld, using his music to charm his way past Charon at the river Styx and Cerberus the three-headed dog. “The House of the Dead itself was stupefied” by his playing (Virgil), and Hades agrees to let Eurydice go, on the condition that Orpheus not look back at her as she follows him, until they reached the upper world. Of course, Orpheus does look – in various versions, either out of fear she isn’t there, or out of love he can’t restrain – and Eurydice is lost again.

Ovid writes, “Dying a second time, now, there was no complaint to her husband (what, then, could she complain of, except that she had been loved?)” and this is common among many versions: no voice, and little detail, given to Eurydice. Sarah Ruhl has made Eurydice the focus of this version, while also adding other characters, and removing the story from its traditionally classical setting.

Learn more about our production of Eurydice.