UP CLOSE Festival
2018/2019/2020
An Immersive Theatre Festival About New York City
For New Yorkers Of All Ages
What if Jane Jacobs (the famed West Village urbanist, community activist and beloved Robert Moses foe) designed a theatre festival?
Whose stories would be told? And how?
Taking inspiration from the legacy of urbanist Jane Jacobs, The UP CLOSE Festival was instigated by interdisciplinary artists and educators, Peter Musante and Summer Shapiro, as an experiment in using immersive theatre to engage young New Yorkers with the histories of the spaces they inhabit.
Co-artistic producer: Sara Morgulis
Core collaborators: Marisol Rosa-Shapiro, Adrienne Kapstein, Bhurin Sead, Payton Smith, Lauren Sharpe.
In partnership with New Ohio Theater’s Theatre for Young Minds initiative.
More info, including artist lineups, at upclosefestival.com
"Young people learn and live through play, exploration, and experimentation. Immersive theater offers them the chance to have a multi-sensory, tactile experience in which they have agency and the freedom to choose their own adventures."
– Marisol Rosa-Shaprio, UP CLOSE Festival lead artist