It seems like such an easy request: a simple silence. A stillness without the weight of work or love or death. A moment in between. But we have learned there is an almost impossible gap between this ambition and the reality of living, that our silence is never simple. In the flickering light, we hold our breaths, anticipating the storm. Something must be lost before it can be found.

A Simple Silence is the final chapter in Riverbed Theatre’s award-winning “Just For You” Trilogy that premiered in Venice in 2022 with All That Remains and continued in 2023 with Over the Rainbow. This new 360VR experience continues the series’ exploration of our connectedness to the world around us, imbuing the environment with an animistic quality while also blurring the boundary between seeing and being seen. The audience is not a witness to the experience; they are the experience. A Simple Silence confronts us with the uneasiness of our inevitable truths, that every beginning implies an ending, that we are shadows passing through the darkness.

It is human nature too long for something more or different than what one has. At times, this aspirational dreaming can lead to advancements: someone finds a better career, leaves an abusive relationship, or, as is the case for Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, returns home. But more often than not, this attitude leads to a sense of discontent with one’s own lot, an unquenchable desire for something new. "Over the Rainbow" explores this precarious balance between desire and satisfaction, encouraging an honest reflection on our own personal sense of identity and values. What are we searching for? Where do we call home? Are we happy? This VR experience takes the audience on a surreal journey from a theatre audition to a dark, David Lynch-inspired dreamscape to a Broadway-style musical. But "Over the Rainbow" offers more than a physical voyage; it is a trip within, an entering into of our aspirations, insecurities, and joys. The project premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival and has been screened at over 20 festivals including the Venice Film Festival, Luxembourg FIlm Festival, Art*VR, Beyond the Frame, New Images, and Festival du Nouveau Cinema.

When Jurassic Park was released in 1993, resurrecting dinosaurs seemed like something only possible in Hollywood films. Now, three decades later, fiction has become reality, as the wealthy can clone their deceased pets and “bring them back to life.” We are living in an age in which death no longer means the end.

Blur is a mixed-reality theater experience that explores this liminal state between life and death, fact and fiction. The production immerses the ten audience members in a surreal world that integrates a live performer with the digital wonders of virtual reality. The audience journeys through an unfolding landscape, encountering firsthand the magical possibilities and terrifying consequences of these scientific advancements. The future is present. Step into the unknown.

Blur is co-directed by Craig Quintero and Phoebe Greenberg and is an international co-production between Riverbed Theatre, PHI Studio, and Onassis Culture.