At a rehearsal in the community room at the Mancos Public Library, an argument is playing out between two elaborately hostile relatives.
The accusations fly - lying, cheating, stealing one says the other has weaseled their way into their grandfather’s will. We’re guests along for the ride at their dinner table, waiting to be fed. When someone suggests eating our rabbit guides, the idea is dismissed: They’re far too bony.
The scene is just one stop in The Golden Fox Paradox: An Immersive Adventure for the Wonderfully Lost, a new production that will transform the streets, businesses and hidden corners of downtown Mancos into a theatrical world for two weekends in October.
Audience members will not be watching from theatre seats, instead, they’re “Intrepid Travelers,” as the production calls them. They will depart in groups and move through roughly ten different vignettes. Along the way, they will encounter actors, visual-art installations and opportunities to interact with the unfolding story.
“We’re putting together this outdoor immersion theater where groups of 14 are going to explore Mancos,” co-producer Kellie Pettyjohn said. “You’re going to come across actors and art as you go through.”
The production involves more than 25 performers and about 15 visual artists, along with several local businesses and community spaces.
The route incorporates locations including the Mancos Common Press, Hand in Hand Bookshop and the Wrightsman House, as well as alleys, bridges and places that are not usually open to the public.
Returning to immersive theaterThe Golden Fox Paradox builds on Purple Fox Conundrum, a similarly immersive production staged in the Mancos Valley in 2019.
Pettyjohn and Sunflower Theatre Artistic Programming Director Sarah Syverson helped create that earlier production with other community members. For the new project, they are joined by Jody Chapen, who is leading the visual art and installation work.
Pettyjohn said Purple Fox explored the collision between nature and technology. Seven years later, the team wanted to revisit this type of all-encompassing theater on a larger scale and place the experience inside Mancos itself.
“I think this project is really a love letter to Mancos,” Pettyjohn said. “This town is a really special, beautiful town. It mixes nature and art.”
Chapel described the production’s visual world as “whimsical” and “sometimes nonsensical.”
That world includes human-sized rabbit and fox characters, sculptures, banners and transformed versions of familiar locations. Most of the participating artists come from Mancos, Cortez and Durango, while some have also returned from previous participation in the Purple Fox Conundrum.
Chapel said some locations that people may pass as unremarkable on a regular basis will be transformed, while other stops will give audience members a behind the curtain look at places they may have never been.
The experience has a storyline, and works best if folks bring their own ear pods or headphones, but the audience can also simply enjoy the artwork and actors. Some will want to engage more directly with performers who are prepared to do some improvisation.
“You’re in the middle of it,” Chapel said. “They’re improvising around you. You can sit back and just watch it, or you can engage a little.”
Making the impractical possibleBehind the production’s mystery is the hands-on work of changing dozens of unusual ideas into a repeatable performance.
During the rehearsal, performers practiced the scene involving feuding relatives and rabbit guides responsible for distributing comically small portions of food. That led to an extended production discussion about the practicality of cutting grapes with each performance. How large should the pieces be? Should the rabbits serve them with tweezers or toothpicks? Where will the hand sanitizer go?
Pettyjohn said local collaborators have been ready to take on their off-the-wall requests, including one artist who was asked to construct a book with a hole through it for one scene.
The harder part has been learning when an idea cannot be completed in the available time.
“At some point, we have to X the three-story rabbit popping out of a hat,” Pettyjohn said. “Who can build a three-story rabbit in a month?”
The Godzilla-sized rabbit may not have survived the editing process, but human-sized rabbits, mysterious artwork and a temporary alternative version of Mancos remain.
The Golden Fox Paradox will take place October 2-4 and October 9-11 in downtown Mancos. Individual groups depart at specifically scheduled times. The production involves an outdoor walking route with uneven surfaces, and participants are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes and bring a charged phone and earbuds.
Tickets and departure times are available through the Sunflower Theatre.
Disclosure: Sunflower Theatre and KSJD operate under the same nonprofit organization. LP McKay’s mother is also providing artwork for the run of the show.
