Blackheart Collective Experience – The Circle Facilitates Group Catharsis

Below is a detailed review of The Blackheart Collective Experience. While the goal of this article is to set expectations, there are some spoilers to be expected. Most spoilers are minor and constitute the discussion of game mechanics. This article aims to capture the collective experience of four staff writers who attended The Blackheart Collective Experience across different runs. 

 

“Come home,” the text says. Two simple words that I’ve grown used to hearing and obeying over the past few days. I open the discord chat. “I am home,” I type. I’m reading through the messages, participants and characters alike sharing intimate stories of their lives, their pain, their darkest moments. Then, a new chat message: “Welcome home. Would you like to escalate?” My heart begins to race – it’s starting again.  

 

The Blackheart Collective Experience is an emotionally charged, short-term, remote ARX (alternate reality experience) from first-time creators by the same name. The Blackheart Collective is the brainchild of Joshua Simon-Lake, with the creative team now including Mells Phillips, Omar Todd, and Rachel Zilberg. While the experience currently takes place online, the creative team is looking into expanding with in-person shows post-quarantine. The Blackheart Collective Experience just finished its third run of their premiere event, with participants from early productions being called back into subsequent runs in support of the “all one Circle” theme. There is no single narrative to this experience; instead, it places its focus on the stories of the participant, urging them to be creative by sharing stories or tasks based on prompts given by characters. This takes place primarily via a discord chat and includes a high level of character interaction and extreme emotional (and occasionally self-inflicted physical) intensity.

 

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A Catharsis Through Sharing

Akin to the Christian story of the rag man, The Blackheart Collective Experience offers a space to draw out player’s pent-up anger, pain, and fear – with it being used toward an ending we won’t spoil. Participants enter The Circle to find abrasive characters who wear their more unsavory traits on their sleeves, and soon learn that all participants are encouraged to do the same. The experience is highly emotional, spanning the spectrum from anger to self-loathing to despair. The themes are presented primarily through “insights,” which take the form of poetic monologues in which characters and, eventually, participants, share personal stories of pain and anguish. The mood is chaotic and dark, with barked orders, sinister vagueness, and a gradual exploration of the shadowy organization participants have stumbled upon. When participants do share, the tone is validating, with the response “The Circle adores you” affirming the participant’s choice to be vulnerable. 

 

Sharing Your Story

Since the experience is highly participant-driven, the tone does vary by participant group and play-style – from the intense and almost vulgar tone of the Destroyers during major moments to more casual participant chat during quieter hours of the day. While at the onset, the experience is nebulous at best and the purpose is unclear, it takes form as the experience progresses; something that The Blackheart Collective could do a bit better in helping orient and set expectations for players. Ultimately, the goal of the experience is personal transformation and radical acceptance through group catharsis. The experience facilitates a space in which participants can think about who they really are and deeply experience their own sadness, despair, fear, and pain, as well as that of others. The intention is that by the end of the experience participants will see themselves and their experiences differently. 

Blackheart unabashedly encourages deep, emotional self-reflection and expression. This is not a lighthearted ARX to pick up for fun – it is emotionally intense and highly time-consuming during the run. 

 

 

How To Find Catharsis

With the goal of catharsis, the majority of the experience consists of tasks/prompts, character and community interactions, and sharing personal stories and creative endeavors. When prompted with an opportunity “to escalate,” participants that answer in the affirmative will be given a task. These tasks range from sending in a poem on anguish to sending in a video of repeatedly slapping yourself in the face. While the purpose of these tasks may seem random at first, they are part of opening up and allowing yourself to be vulnerable with the experience. 

As your vulnerability escalates, participants will share more with the community via their discord server. For those familiar with the platform or Slack, it should be a quick orientation; but the many channels with their similar names (pain vs anguish, for example) can make it difficult for participants to distinguish the purposes of each channel. But regardless of the channel, it is up to the participants to interpret sometimes vague, yet flexible tasks, do them, and return them to the characters. This does lead to some confusion, but the characters exist to help solve problems, even if the power dynamic may make some players intimidated to do so. 

In service of vulnerability, The Blackheart Collective Experience assigns each member a distinct and anonymous name at the start of the experience. This helps facilitate honest and authentic sharing in a space among friends and other immersive community members. It is important to note that maintaining anonymity is challenging; many participants use identifying photos or share their code names outside of the experience, and it is not possible to publish a task without using your code name, making true anonymity challenging. 

 

Methods of Connection

When it is necessary, characters may reach out to participants to bring them back to the discord; this can be for important communal moments or to reward them with a more personal interaction. For example, a participant might receive a phone call from a character in the middle of the night asking them to share a story or answer a personal question. A participant who has completed numerous tasks or connected with a certain character might be given the privilege of revealing backstory to the group on behalf of that character. Additionally, participants are expected to call or text in code phrases to prove their level of engagement, which results in a phrase being constructed out of all participants’ voices. Finally, toward the end of the experience, voice channels and videos on discord are used to create the ritual spaces in which the run’s finale eventually takes place. 

 

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A Personal Experience

Every participant’s path through The Circle is different, driven by their chosen level of engagement, personality, and comfort level. The onus is on participants to interpret tasks and instructions and to make the experience meaningful through their own artistic and emotional expression, or by relating to that of the characters. This means that the experience can be as meaningful or as lackluster as the participant decides, based on their actions and willingness to be vulnerable. Further, the overall experience is heavily dependent on the cohesiveness and chemistry among the group selected to participate. The result is that not all experiences will be consistent, and an amazing show for one group of friends may not be reproducible among the next group of strangers.  

The experience does not have a cohesive narrative. Instead, there are sprinklings of character backstory which help participants connect to the various characters. Small details are added to help expand their universe, but please note that story is not a main focus here. The Circle, which exists as an abstract concept of the group, is more of a concept than an actual organization. The Circle allows participants to truly feel heard. It gives them needed catharsis, providing a space to share that otherwise might not exist. 

Haunting does warn that some of the stories shared can be triggering. These include real stories of rape, domestic violence, and more. The topic of trigger warnings does provide minor spoilers to an experience. However, setting the right expectations prior to the experience can help attract the right audience. With stories about murdering children, The Blackheart Collective can better their mileage by setting the appropriate expectations: Their experience will go to some very dark places. 

 

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Real Acting

The creative team acts as the various characters in The Circle. As self-proclaimed “Destroyers”, the four characters build the chaotic and emotive themes through sharing personal backstories at various intervals.   The characters are meant to be intimidating and often are.  At times the lines between characters and participants become blurred into a mutual sharing space; the main difference is that characters understand the format well before participants do.  While there isn’t a grand, unfolding narrative, we have heard that single character narratives have begun to emerge. The intention is to interweave these stories through the experience; however, this isn’t always the case. Most often, the acting is participant-responsive and reads as chaotic improv by design. 

 

Overall, the acting is a mixed bag. Characters’ personalities sometimes shine through, but other times get lost in the storm of emotions and monologues. Pieces of backstory unveil the personalities of each character over the course of the experience. Flowery, poetic, and sometimes vague soliloquies drive this revelation. As a result, participants may take time to latch onto, distinguish, or relate to characters. Nevertheless, the actors validate participants’ stories to create a strong sense of intimacy. Participants and actors connect by experiencing emotional vulnerability together. 

 

A Time Investment

Much like any ARX, this experience does require a heavy time investment to get the most out of it. The lengthy text monologues mean that there’s always a lot to catch up on when a participant opens the discord. The monologues are a cross between journal entries and poetry in tone, and can be quite beautiful at times. Participants in successful waves loved the high level of content and connection, sinking countless hours into participating. The “no fucking tourists” policy means that the experience requires participants to meet a certain engagement threshold to continue. This may be challenging for more reserved participants, especially at the beginning. 

 

Participant Expectations

Players who will get the most out of The Blackheart Collective Experience are those who are emotionally stable. The ideal participant is willing to be vulnerable and open to sharing their own trauma and pain. A participant should be comfortable drawing boundaries in a high pressure emotional environment. If you are unsure if this is the right experience for you, reach out to us or the Blackheart team. It is worthwhile to as questions, especially if you have strong triggers.

 

Blackheart Collective Experience

 

Final Thoughts

The Blackheart Collective Experience provides a welcoming, yet challenging platform in which participants may share among others. This platform can create magic, transformation, and catharsis for a given participant. It can also provide an unsettling, triggering, or confusing experience for another. Whether you fall in the former or the latter is a decision you will have to decide for yourself. 

The experience uses similar themes as other cathartic and community-building experiences, like iConfidant2020 or nocent. However, The Blackheart Collective Experience takes a more free-form style, and offers a no-limits experience for participants. Their prompts help players access more difficult emotions and help push boundaries and vulnerability, forsaking a strong narrative. 

Prospective participants should prepare to publicly share descriptive trauma alongside other players as well as characters. They should expect a large time commitment, especially in the evenings. They will also need to draw their own boundaries around level of engagement and sharing. For those that it connects with, The Blackheart Collective Experience can be beautifully transformative. Some participants report building meaningful friendships within a new community. For others, it can be an uncomfortable experience that does not connect. We hope that, with the right expectations, The Blackheart Collective can provide a space for creativity, connection, and catharsis. 

 

Find out more about The Blackheart Collective and their upcoming shows on their website, Facebook page and Instagram. Check out our Event Guide for more immersive and horror events throughout the year.

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