DENVER — Before the interview started, David Byrne had to roll down his right pant leg after biking to the warehouse where his latest creation will play out in North Denver.
“What are we doing in Denver? Oh man just riding around on my bike, having some great food, really kind of freshly brewed beer," joked the Grammy and Tony award-winning artist.
Byrne is biking around Denver because he co-created a show called Theater of the Mind, a Denver Center for the Performing Arts production that premieres on Aug. 31.
“Before this little COVID thing came and we were kind of set to go," said Byrne. "And then we hit the pause button."
The show is finally happening at the York Street Yards in a former marijuana grow house. Rehearsals started Tuesday.
The director, Andrew Scoville, has been a part of creating several immersive theater experiences in New York City. He said this experience will wow audience members with "scientific phenomena."
> Watch the full interview with Byrne and Scoville below:
“I think a thing that’s going to really track for a lot of these audience members is the way that these different perceptual phenomena actually make up our perception of the world," said Andrew Scoville. "And then the experience will ask the question, is that reliable? How malleable is that? And what does that mean for us as people?"
Byrne, who recently starred in and created the Broadway musical, American Utopia, said he couldn't have guessed his career would take him here back in his Talking Heads days.
> Technology Designer, Heidi Boisvert and Producer and Production Manager, Melissa Cashion, discuss the challenges of an immersive show like this outside of a traditional theater setting below:
“I couldn’t have imagined a show like this back then," he said. "It couldn’t have entered my head."
Of course, the 70-year-old doesn't have to keep creating. But he can't help himself.
“There’s this place in Florida, Mar-a-Lago that I heard is gonna be available, I could just retire there," joked Byrne. "No, there’s so many things that are just fascinating, fascinating, exciting working with other people collaborating, things I would love to try, and you just go I have the possibility that I could actually do this a show like this."
Theater of the Mind runs from August 31-December 18. It takes place at the York Street Yards at 3887 Steele Street, Denver, CO 80205.
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