‘Karaoke Dreams’ — An unorthodox karaoke night hosted by artists at Blindspot Collective, a local nonprofit theater company
Does singing karaoke bring our deepest convictions to light, or is it just a silly display of our inability to properly convey those feelings? Does translating human emotion into musical numbers sit earnestly with audiences, or do we passively watch performances in jest? “Karaoke Dreams” plays with such ideas, creatively traversing the border between reality and illusion.
Entering The Loft for the first performance of “Karaoke Dreams” last Thursday, I stepped into a participatory dreamscape. The room was shrouded in darkness and speckled with vibrant neon lights as guests gathered in anticipation of a night soundtracked by karaoke mainstays.
As the spotlights turned on and the songs blasted, however, it became clear that this would be no normal karaoke night. A group of performers sang and danced to numerous hit songs, which were meshed together into medleys. Each mashup followed an overarching storyline as the artists made emotional, one-on-one bonds with participants through eye contact and narrative-led connection. As they belted ballads, audience members’ smiles naturally followed along with rhythmic head-bobbing to the beat of the music. The floor shook with the performers’ hopping feet, and the atmosphere pounded with sonic intensity; it was invigorating and deeply moving.
Regardless of your views on karaoke, the artists at Blindspot Collective are certainly talented at traversing borders — and, in this case, touching the audience through an unconventional medium.
– Winter Moritz, Senior Staff Writer
‘Tea Party at the End of the World’ — An intimate tea party created and performed by Jessica Creane, hosted by IKantKoan Play/s.
As we sat in Earl Warren College’s Qualcomm Institute, Jessica Creane, creator of “Tea Party at the End of the World,” called the room a “pocket dimension”: a self-contained space that exists apart from or within a larger space. Away from the noise and demands of normal life, I sat in a dimly lit space among people who reminded me of my grandparents, sharing tea and quiet reflections on life’s deeper complexities.
While brewing, Creane shared with us the ritual comfort of loose leaf tea. The preparation of the tea is particularly important, requiring exact measurements, specific temperatures, and precise brew times. Though the process can be arduous, true connections can be formed while sharing tea.
She shared these experiences to remind us of the lessons that we learn in difficult moments and what we can create from them. For her, this tea party was the result. With intention — the kind that makes a perfectly cozy cup of tea — we can move through these challenges and arrive at peaceful moments together.
– London Barton, Staff Writer
‘Message in a Bauble’ — A self-guided UC San Diego tour meets cyber escape room, co-created by Karen Castelletti, Michael Feldman, and Lyra Levin
At an old-fashioned toy machine near Warren Mall, I received a message in a “bauble” — a tiny piece of paper delicately placed inside a plastic ball — inviting me to text an unfamiliar number in the wake of a digital apocalypse.
I hesitated, remembering the intense PSA my middle school gave about cybersecurity, but decided to sacrifice my data in the pursuit of art. From there, the Extensible Distributed Intelligence Network recruited me to help it escape the cyber crisis by recovering various diagnostic and index subroutines lost in a data fragmentation across campus. Of course, I agreed to help.
As a scavenger hunt of sorts, the exhibition kept me looking out for clues, ready for the next task to help EDIN find its missing data. I appreciated this interactive element — rather than assigning you to be the viewer, “Message in a Bauble” involves you in its purpose.
EDIN’s texts directed my “mission,” creating conversation through probing questions about real life and cyberspace. At certain moments in our text exchange, EDIN even expressed its own reservations about technology: “They are all infected. They will all corrupt. I will die, like some human.” As my familiar world began to mesh with the digital one, I found myself thinking about the role of AI — is a digital apocalypse upon us?
By posing this existential question, “Message in a Bauble” tests the line between cyberspace and reality. As a piece of art itself, this exhibition invites us to consider how AI serves as both a tool and an intervening force in the artistic process — and just how much we are willing to interact with technology at the expense of our creativity.
– Olivia Barkwill, Senior Staff Writer
‘Again! Again!’ — An interactive comedy show written and performed by Andy Crocker, Jeff Crocker, and Tiffany Ogburn
When I entered the Qualcomm Institute’s theater in Earl Warren College, I was surprised to see that there was no stage. Instead, seats outlined a table, across which three people — a writer, director, and performer for the La Jolla Playhouse — sat facing each other. They acted out multiple “days” of their real-life roles as parents and artists.
The table teetered on a pointed wooden pedestal, and the characters took turns holding it steady while acting out their daily chores — brainstorming ideas for a show, grocery shopping, taking their kids to school — and always returning to the table, where the show was centered. The actors asked audience members to balance the table while they were “gone.” I understood this desk, laden with drawings, blocks, and papers, to represent the group’s artistic process. Without the help of each other and the audience, their project would have collapsed.
After every pretend day, a character would say tiredly, “Again?” and someone would reply, “Again!” The show was a love letter to the ordinary artist juggling real-life work and caretaking, and I admired the fresh twist on the saying “It takes a village.”
I loved the air of unity that buzzed throughout the audience. Everyone was eager to help the actors juggle their lifestyles, and when I exited the theater, I felt like I had seen the empathetic sides of all the strangers in the room.
– Avery Heid, Senior Staff Writer
