A truly unique theatrical experience is hard to come by these days, even if the Drama Desk Awards do have a category for it. If you searching for an event that you wouldn’t get anywhere else, the best place is the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in the East Village where Odd Man Out, a total immersive production in pitch darkness, is playing. Originally presented in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this 90-minute drama employs all the senses but sight and totally engages the audience.
The script by Martin Bandone is entertaining enough, recounting the tumultuous life of Alberto, a blind jazz musician. But the main attraction here is the direction by Bandone, Facundo Bogarin, and Carlos Armesto and the bombardment of the senses.
We begin in the lobby of the Sheen Center which laid out to resemble an airport lounge (Tyler Herald is credited with “Environmental Design,” which I assume includes the detailed setting to make us think we are at JFK ready for take-off.) After phones and watches are silenced and stowed, attendees are lead into the playing pitch-black playing space. Drinks and snacks are handed out and our fellow passengers are Alberto and his rowmates the boisterous Christian, ready for camaraderie, and Julieta, fresh off a divorce and equally ready for a kind word and a story.
With a little prodding, Alberto spins his tale. Flashbacks take us from the passenger cabin to village of Alberto’s youth. Mainly through sounds and smells, we experiences his run-ins with the authoritarian Argentine government, his romance with Clara, a valorous social worker and his pursuit of a career in the US. The resolution is a mite melodramatic and Christian’s run-ins with a bossy stewardess are forced comedy relief, but the sensations provided are memorable and sometimes stunning. When Alberto is arrested while attending a protest, his torturous treatment is brought shockingly alive with the sounds of waterboarding. His childhood home is summoned up through the smells of tangerines. We are splashed lightly with water as he frocks with Clara in a neighborhood stream.
The vocal performances of Pablo Drutman, Carmen Borla, Agustina Cedraschi, Bree Klauser, Andrés Montejo, Lorenza Bernasconi, and Mauricio Marte add depth to this unforgettable experience.
