Providing an audience with an intimate theatrical experience in the world of COVID is a challenge, but BOTO is taking every precaution to keep its audience safe and comfortable. A big goal Hoepfner had going into this project was вЂњfinding a space where we could make a show and fiddle with it,вЂќ and thatвЂ™s exactly what he and his cast are doing with BOTO. вЂњThe shows that I made in the five years before this, I was in the space for limited amounts of time,вЂќ Hoepfner said. Not only is Gymnopedie a space for artists in the Bushwick community and beyond, it also serves as a permanent home for Houseworld ImmersiveвЂ™s current and future projects. Dancers, filmmakers, photographers, musicians and others have used Gymnopedie in their own unique ways. As time went on and word spread about this unique space, вЂњhundreds and eventually thousands of people wanted to film here,вЂќ Hoepfner said. ThatвЂ™s when Hoepfner began renting out Gymnopedie, first to some of his dancer friends for a small fee. Once Hoepfner and his team were finished, money was running low. Restoring a damaged building comes at a cost. They had their work cut out for them, вЂњremoving a junkyard of floorboards and rat corpses,вЂќ Hoepfner said, fixing extreme water damage and more, all in exchange for the usage of the space. Now Gymnopedie is an eerie, raw, yet beautiful environment, but when Hoepfner and his collaborators first arrived, it was an abandoned basement left untouched since the 70s. When BOTO went into development in late 2019, he felt that this was its perfect home. Hoepfner originally came across the space when scouting locations for his other shows. This format is what Hoepfner wants for his audience, allowing them to вЂњexist in a different state for two hours,вЂќ to вЂњturn off phones and be present.вЂќ Hoepfner describes BOTO as a вЂњserene guided meditation,вЂќ where вЂњyou enter a hidden underworld in Bushwick and five guests are led by three spirit guides through a sequence of invented rituals.вЂќ Each individual person will come out with their own unique experience through each room.Д«OTO is held at Gymnopedie, a performance venue and arts rental space in the basement of Bushwick United Methodist Church.

Hoepfner enjoys creating pieces for an intimate audience in BOTO there are only five audience members per performance. When Hoepfner saw the show, he was disappointed to never receive a one-on-one, but then he thought: вЂњWhat if I made a show that was all one-on-one?вЂќ In Sleep No More, audience members don masks and explore through the world of the show as a group, but audience members can sometimes be taken into one-on-ones with cast members and truly become a part of the show. Hoepfner first got the bug to start creating immersive theater in 2014 when he saw Sleep No More, one of the most successful and well-known immersive theater shows in the city. BOTO was created by Andrew Hoepfner, also the founder of Houseworld Immersive. Houseworld Immersive specializes in immersive theater for small audiences, allowing for a more intimate experience. вЂњBOTO,вЂќ you will say.Д«OTO is an immersive theater experience from Houseworld Immersive, the group that also created the shows Houseworld and Whisperlodge. The door will open slightly, and you will be asked for the password. Instead, you will follow a small white neon light outside of Bushwick United Methodist Church, descend the stairs and stop at a large steel door. But at Bottom of the Ocean (BOTO) you will do none of those things. The ritual of going to live theater is usually the same: you arrive a little before curtain, get your tickets checked at the door, maybe grab a drink or stand in line for the restroom, then settle into a red velvet seat and wait for the curtain to rise.

Sleep no more one on ones