Dear audience,
Thank you so much for joining us today at asses.masses. You are about to embark on an epic adventure together. Over ten episodes, multiple meals, many players, and many more backseat drivers, you’ll bring to life the story of a herd of unemployed donkeys trying to make their way in a world set on forgetting them. You’ll also, we hope, meet new comrades and make more friends along the way.
The theatre is a place of collective gathering and of action. As artists working at the intersection of games and performance, we’re thrilled that more and more theatres around the world are opening up to the possibility that those goals—of collective gathering and action—can be achieved and practiced in new ways, such as through video games.
To be honest, when we started creating asses.masses, it wasn’t clear if anyone would accept it. A video game? In a theatre?! For the length of a workday?! Yes. We wanted to bring all the fun of an epic game night in the basement with your friends to a theatre—and those nights were never just 120 minutes with one intermission.
One of our central questions was how to give the public a chance to step into the role of leaders and to question what leadership really looked like—is the leader the one who has the controller? Or the one in the back who has solved the puzzle? And how and when do we negotiate a change in leadership?
asses.masses exists in over ten languages and has been played collectively by thousands of people around the world—in theatres and always live. Sometimes it’s longer, sometimes it’s shorter. It just depends on who is playing it.
Thank you for joining our herd. Ass Power!
Patrick + Milton
CREATIVE CREDITS
Patrick Blenkarn (Canada): co-direction, text, programming, pixel art, 2D animation
Milton Lim (Canada): co-direction, text, sound design, video, 3D visual effects
Laurel Green (Canada): dramaturgy, text, touring producer
David Mesiha (Canada): original music, sound design, audio implementation
Clarissa Picolo (Brazil): pixel art, 2D animation
William Roth (France): pixel art, 2D animation
Ariadne Sage (Germany): 3D environments
Samuel Reinhart (USA): additional programming
Patrick Blenkarn, Milton Lim, Laurel Green, David Mesiha, Stéphane Noel: tour operators
Stéphane Noël / Materialise: international distribution
asses.masses is created by a team of international artists led by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim.
Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim are conceptual artists exploring urgent questions around the social value of art, digital labour, and the political potential of games. Mixing their backgrounds in performance, philosophy, psychology, and digital media, their collaborations have manifested in video games, participatory installations, digital archives, and card games. In addition to asses.masses, Patrick and Milton are also the co-founders of the Canadian national video archive of performance (videocan) and the co-creators behind a performing arts economy trading card game (culturecapital). Their projects have been presented across Canada, as well as in Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Italy, Turkey, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the USA, in English, French, Italian, Catalan, Turkish, Portuguese, German, and Spanish.
Their next project, dam.nation, follows the true story of twenty Canadian beavers acquired by the Argentinian government in 1946.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Patrick Blenkarn (he/him) is an artist working at the intersection of performance, game design, and visual art. Often engaging with the politics of participation and interactivity, his recent works feature sustained investigations into the subjects of language, labour, democracy, and the art economy, with projects ranging in form from video games and card games to stage plays and books. His work has been featured in film festivals, galleries, and performance festivals across Canada, and recently in Argentina, Mexico, Germany, and the Arctic. He is the Producer for The Elbow Theatre in Vancouver and one half of Guilty by Association. Patrick has a degree in philosophy, theatre, and film from the University of King’s College and an MFA in interdisciplinary art from Simon Fraser University. He is passionate about languages—speaking English, French, Spanish, and German. patrickblenkarn.com
Milton Lim (he/him) is a digital media artist, game designer, and performance creator based in Vancouver, Canada. His research-based practice entwines publicly available data, interactive digital media, and gameful performance to create speculative visions and candid articulations of social capital. This line of inquiry aims to reconsider our repertoires of knowledge aggregation and political intervention in the contemporary context of big data and algorithmic culture. Milton holds a BFA (Hons.) in theatre performance and psychology from Simon Fraser University. His work has been presented across Canada, and internationally in the US, Argentina, the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia. He is a co-artistic director of Hong Kong Exile, an artistic associate with Theatre Conspiracy, a founding member of Synectic Assembly—an Artificial Intelligence focused art collective, and an Artistic-Leader-in-Residence at the National Theatre School of Canada. miltonlim.com
Laurel Green (she/her) is an artist, creative producer, and interdisciplinary collaborator whose work is deeply engaged with process, exploring methodologies for creation, and strategies for shared leadership. She is a nationally-recognized dramaturg with over a decade of practice in the creation, development, and production of new performance work. From world premiere plays, to performance installations, gameful experiences, digital projects, and secret backyard shows; Laurel designs invitations to participate and provocations for change. As a freelance producer she has worked extensively with festivals and arts companies across the country. She was the Festival Producer for the High Performance Rodeo, Calgary’s International Festival of the Arts, for which she was named one of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40, and Artistic Associate for new play development over seven seasons with Alberta Theatre Projects. Laurel holds an MA from the University of Toronto and is a performance researcher with the University of Victoria. Her recent collaborations include the tabletop role-playing game and idea incubator for the arts sector FARCE (Fictional Arts: Reimagining Creative Ecosystems), the App-algorithm change listening party Remixed by Trophy, and creating participatory gardening installations with Yarrow Collective.
David Mesiha is a Toronto & Vancouver based award winning Composer | Sound | Mixed media Artist. He is known for his music composition and multimedia installations alike. After graduating from the music program at Simon Fraser University, David started professionally composing music for theatre, film and multimedia while constantly seeking out new collaborations with innovative artists and companies. David’s artistic practice has often seen him take on a collaborative role in the total conception, co-creation and realization of work with particular sensitivity to dramaturgy as well as immersive audio-visual design.David’s work has received critical acclaim across multiple mediums examples of which are his work in theatre on shows such as Foreign Radical, Project (X), Terminus, Motherland and Except In The Unlikely Event of War. In film with films such as Small Currents, Hotel New York and the viral live action Pokemon Apokalypse. In Video games his music and sound design received acclaim for games such as Red Shift, Forgotten Kingdoms and the Dark Canvas series.
Samuel Reinhart (he/him) is a Games Engineer, Designer, and Unity Developer from Anchorage, Alaska and based in Los Angeles, California. He studied briefly at the DigiPen Institute of Technology, and taught workshops for children and teens for over 5 years through their ProjectFUN and Academy programs, while independently improving in Game Design and Unity Programming. He has participated in numerous game jams, and has a passion for rapid prototyping, bubble tea, and narrative writing. His focus outside of work is the development of personal indie projects.
Ariadne Sage is a 3D Artist & Game Developer based in Mainz, Germany. Her work includes virtual landscapes the size of small countries, stylized fantasy interiors and detailed architectural renderings. Ariadne has a Bachelor of Games Design from the Queensland College of Art in Australia. She has recieved multiple awards for her work over the last 10 years including the Most Outstanding Achievment in Visual Art for her university capstone project and the Best of Show Award for her relaxation game Arty Swirly Colourful at the Joint Conference on Serious Games 2016.
William Roth is a digital artist based in Bordeaux, France. Working online under the pen name PICOID, he provides chunky pixels and other digital tinkering. His art goes in many directions as he likes to experiment and work on projects of different natures. On asses.masses he is creating and animating characters, mostly donkeys weirdly. But quite a few humans too! It was fun for him finding the balance between realistic proportions and cartoonish style to fit the themes of the game.
Clarissa Picolo/maruki is a pixel artist and animator with five years of experience in creating assets for games, animations for music videos, and promotional content, ranging from mascots to album covers. Her favorite subjects are nature, food, and technological decay, and her signature motif is incorporating ghosts and bees into her work. She has worked on several independent game projects and has shipped a couple of Twine games with an existential and surreal theme.
SUPPORT
Created with support from Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, The Theatre Centre, VIVO Media Arts, Embassy of Canada to Argentina and Paraguay.
Developed with the funding support from Creative BC and the British Columbia Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts.
Produced in association with the National Arts Centre of Canada’s National Creation Fund.
FOOD SPONSORS
NYU SKIRBALL
NYU Skirball holds close James Baldwin’s dictum that “artists are here to disturb the peace.” Our mission is to present adventurous, cross-disciplinary work that inspires yet provokes, confirms yet confounds, and entertains yet upends. We proudly embrace renegade artists who surprise, productions that blur aesthetic boundaries, and thought-leaders who are courageous, outrageous, and mind-blowing. We are NYU’s largest classroom. We want to feed your head.
NYU SKIRBALL FUNDING
NYU Skirball’s programs are made possible in part with support from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and the Howard Gilman Foundation; Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels; Culture Ireland; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Goethe Institut New York with support from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany; The Shubert Foundation; Collins Building Services; Norwegian Consulate General in New York; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Marta Heflin Foundation; and New England Foundation for the Arts; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Allies for Arts Access Fund support.
BECOME A MEMBER
NYU Skirball Members are friends … with benefits. Members receive discounted tickets to productions, events, pre-sale opportunities, exclusive invitations, and special access to innovative artists, academics, and thought-leaders. More importantly, members support a broad range of cutting-edge performances to New York City. Memberships start at $75.
GO BEYOND THE STAGE
NYU SKIRBALL STAFF
Director Jay Wegman
Supervisor, Lighting And Sound Emily Anderson
Ticket Operation Specialist Cliff Billings
Engagement Director J De Leon, PhD
Theater Technician Brian Emens
Company Manager Tayler Elizabeth Everts
Theater Technician George Faya
Theater Technician Angie Golightly
Operations Manager Jenny Liao
Marketing Manager Clare Lockhart
Box Office Manager Craig Melzer
Development Director Kimberly Olstad Piegaro
External Affairs Associate Sabrina Yvellez
Front of House Supervisor Jordan Peters
Production Manager Alberto Ruiz
Senior Supervisor, Lighting And Sound Don Short
Finance and Administrative Manager Caroline Grace Steudle
Administrative Coordinator Zakiya Rowe
Operations Director Ian Tabatchnick
Press Representative Blake Zidell & Associates
NEXT @ NYU SKIRBALL
Stephen Rea: Krapp’s Last Tape
Oct 8 – 19 | North American Premiere
“★★★★ Stephen Rea is hauntingly good in Beckett’s masterpiece” – The Guardian
Legendary Irish actor Stephen Rea takes on Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape in a revelatory new production directed by Vicky Featherstone. Direct from its acclaimed run at London’s Barbican, this gripping solo performance explores memory, regret, and the passage of time with Beckett’s signature wit and stark poetry. Rea, known for his mesmerizing stage and screen presence, delivers a tour-de-force portrayal of a man confronting his past through old recordings of himself. Produced by one of Ireland’s leading theatre companies, Landmark Productions, and under Featherstone’s masterful direction, the production strips Krapp’s Last Tape to its essence, heightening its emotional power and dark humor. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to witness one of the greatest living actors in an unforgettable Beckett classic.