The Closeness of Strangers: One On One Chicago’s “Beach Play” Comes to Los Angeles

I’m in Venice, California, and I have buried my phone in the sand. A man and I, fifteen minutes before strangers to each other, are staring into each other’s eyes now that we understand each other better. We spoke about feeing small, feeling calm, the curse of loneliness. We came to the same place.

I’m here for Beach Play, where Andrew Lund, star and curator of production company One on One Chicago, spent a single day in Los Angeles, having intimate conversations with only thirteen audience members. His new promotion is exactly what the name implies: one on one experiences between actor and audience that provide a level of causal intimacy that exists at the very core of immersive theatre.

Photo by Karlie Blair

Over the last few years, the genre of immersive theatre has garnered the attention of mainstream marketing campaigns. Alongside alternate reality games (e.g., The Dark Knight’s Why So Serious campaign and Nine Inch Nail’s Year Zero), experiential entertainment is slowly becoming a go-to tool for viral and pop-up marketing. Short-run events like The Ready Player One Challenge, 20^th Century Fox’s Horror Rewind, and The IT Experience have driven interest and business to large-budget films and movies. But these large-scale experiences are not always able create genuine moments or offer the personal connection that many audience members desire. A small morsel like Beach Play represents the roots of immersive theatre; though others may attend the same show, your experience is deeply your own. This is thanks in no small part to Lund’s genuine approach to human interaction.

Andrew Lund and Haunting Staff member Vicki Camps on Venice Beach

That closeness between performer and participant is exactly what the genre needs: honest, solid connection between creator and participant, between vision and execution. One on One Chicago fills such a necessary place amongst the extreme haunts and long-term, intense Alternate Realities. Lund has created a piece that’s almost deceptive in its moving simplicity. Fifteen minutes: he is him and you are you and you are there, connected.

He hands me a note, telling me my loneliness is valid, and then we look into each other’s eyes. He tells me he’s not usually out on the West coast, but when those tough feelings come up to try and remember him.

“Someone in Chicago is thinking about you.”

Seven words. Fifteen minutes. And on a Sunday in Venice, my shoes filled with the beach, my phone buried in the sand next to a former stranger, I know that is enough.

One On One Chicago is primarily based in the Windy City. For more information on Beach Play or future shows both in and out of Chicago, visit their website, or find them on Instagram or Facebook.