Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago Faculty Perform in Lucky Plush’s ‘Map of Now’ Digital Festival June 25-26

Meghann Wilkinson

 

Michel Rodriguez Cintra

Lucky Plush Productions, a Chicago-based dance-theatre ensemble whose members include Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago faculty member Meghann Wilkinson and former faculty member Michel Rodriguez Cintra, presents The Map of Now, an interactive digital festival, on Friday and Saturday, June 25 and 26.

This interdisciplinary digital festival — presented by Lucky Plush in partnership with the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Links Hall, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, and Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theatre’s LookOut Series — will highlight the richness of Chicago’s arts ecology with a robust roster of local dancers, musicians, theatre artists, musicians, and comedians. For tickets, click here.

The Map of Now promises to be simple to navigate and easy to enjoy. It will be hosted festival-style on an interactive online platform called Gather.Town. Before each show, audience members will create their own online avatars, who then set out on a digital map of Chicago to choose their own adventures. After an audience member navigates their avatar to their chosen venue, enters the digital space and finds a virtual seat, they’ll discover each venue virtually rendered in such a way that represents the actual physical space, but in more of a retro, game-like world. Once “seated,” a simple click on an icon will launch a video of an original short performance, likely recorded in that same venue. “In addition to dreaming up a new platform to showcase Chicago’s diverse artists and venues, The Map of Now will explore community connectivity in an all-new way,” says Lucky Plush founder and artistic director Julia Rhoads.

Tickets for The Map of Now are on a sliding scale, $5-$50, suggested price $25, with discounts for students, seniors, and industry. For tickets and information, click here. For more information, read the Chicago Reader‘s article about The Map of Nowclick here.