The fourth wall is a performance convention that assumes an invisible wall separates actors from the audience. The audience can see through the wall, but the assumption is that the actors cannot.
The Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor is doing something different: putting the audience inside the four walls of its outdoor courtyard, where it will be surrounded by video projections and share the space with performers in an immersive storytelling experience unlike anything the theater has ever produced.
“Wonder/Wall" will launch the first of four premiere events created by five different artists on Tuesday at 8:30. Each evening will feature five individual 15-minute performances, each for a standing audience of 20 people. The series was conceived by Josh Wilder, the theater's artistic associate.
The projects emerged from Mr. Wilder's conversations with Scott Schwartz, the theater's artistic director, and Will Pomerantz, its associate artistic director. “In the beginning of the pandemic, since all the actors weren't onstage, I felt there was a need to showcase the designers of the theater, because it was the safest thing to do at the time," said Mr. Wilder.
Before long he decided to focus on projection designers, recognizing “a point of tension when you're in the audience. You think, ‘I want to watch these actors, but there's something really wild and big going on behind them. So where do I focus?' "
“For ‘Wonder/Wall,' I really wanted to make the audience know that projection designers are their own artists and their own storytellers. There are so many storytellers in the theater that make one singular vision happen. I think this is a great opportunity to showcase people who aren't playwrights, actors, directors, but are actually visual storytellers."
With the projections enlivening all four walls, it will be a 3-D, 360-degree experience, said Mr. Wilder. “You don't need 3-D glasses for this one, you just need your own pair of eyes." All four pieces will have live performers. “This is something brand-new for the theater, it's a bold step in a new direction, combining video projection, performance, and the audience in the same space."
The first program, which will run from Tuesday through July 11, is “We Are in This Together, As Well As the Stages: Shutdown, Crisis, Restart" by Rasean Davonte Johnson, a Broadway designer who has worked in theaters across the country.
Mr. Johnson noted that the pandemic had many perspectives, “and I thought it would be interesting to explore those different things." Of the audience's experience, he said, “Everyone is in their own specific space. The biggest thing I want to . . . highlight is the fact that everyone will have a different perspective."
Subsequent programs will include “Frankenstein" by Yee Eun Nam, a visual artist and award-winning set and video designer for opera, theater, and other forms of live performance. According to the theater, the audience can expect “Wind! Waves! A crash of thunder! Enter, Frankenstein. We've all seen and heard of the classic creature, but what if Frankenstein is one of us?"
The production designers Mike Billings and Brian Staton are collaborating on “20,000," which they describe as “an irreverent mash-up of text and images from Jules Verne's ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' and the writings of the environmentalist Rachel Carson."
The series will conclude with “Smile" by Brittany Bland. Using live projection and audio interviews, “Smile" will put the audience at the center of a Harlem-born photographer's family archive. Ms. Bland will be the lead performer in her piece.
The theater's website is the source for the complete “Wonder/Wall" schedule and timed tickets for each 15-minute show, which are $20. All shows will start promptly at the designated time; late-comers will not be admitted.
