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About Glenn
Baltimore City
As a composer, sound designer, performer, lighting designer, and video artist, Glenn Ricci has been working with time-based media for over three decades. As a founder and Co-artistic Director of Submersive Productions, Glenn has engaged with over one hundred local artists in a unique and evolving collaborative process that melds design, performance, and world-building to create unique, impactful audience experiences.
For the past eight years, Glenn has focused on creating fully immersive artworks and their potential as an unexpected and memorable form of storytelling. By creating… more
Music, Sound, Video (2008-2013)
The Stranger (2015)
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Sand CleansingThe ritual concluded with the guest cleansing their hands with black sand. -
The Stranger: The Wall of NamesPart of The Stranger: a secreat and personal show-within-a-show added for the Fall Edition. After channeling a first-person account ending with the the loss of a loved one, the guest would be invited to write down the name of someone they had lost. They would then be led to a separate room where the guest added their name to a wall containing many others. Many months after the closing of Mesmeric Revelations, the cast gathered to complete the ritual. Each name left on the Stranger's wall by audience members was read aloud and ceremonially burned. It was yet another reminder that we had created something that had extended well beyond any single performance. Performer: Martha Robichaud. -
Historical SourcesThe hundreds of paper scraps on the floor were replicas of historical documents related to the stories told by The Stranger. -
Mop, Card, BoxSimple props used for The Stranger experience. The guest is asked to choose a card from the box, which prompts The Stranger to channel a particular tale of loss. -
The Stranger's RoomAdded to the Fall Remount: A handful of guests each evening are invited to climb the servants' stairs and enter the private room where The Stranger resides. A private show-within-the-show, The Stranger was a secret and personal mediation on history and loss. The Stranger would mop scraps on the floor into circle. Each were replicas of historical documents related to the stories told by The Stranger. After channeling a first-person account ending with the the loss of a loved one, the guest would be invited to write down the name of someone they had lost. Many found their encounter with The Stranger deeply moving. -
Anonymous and MysteriousThe identity and very existence of The Stranger was kept secret until the last weeks of the run. Halfway into the Fall run, notice was first posted on Facebook (accompanying this image) that "on certain nights, certain visitors" may encounter the character. For all but a few, their experience was entirely a surprise. -
Burning of the NamesMany months after the closing of Mesmeric Revelations, the cast gathered to complete the ritual. Each name left on the Stranger's wall by audience members was read aloud and ceremonially burned. It was yet another reminder that we had created something that had extended well beyond any single performance.
The Mesmeric Revelations! of Edgar Allan Poe (2015)
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Virginia on PianoVirginia, a character inspired by Poe's wife, was portrayed by Natanya Sheva Washer (pictured) and Deirdre McAllister. For the first roughly thirty minutes, Virginia is exploring her parlor as if completely blind. She experiences a series of deaths, each of which transforms and evolves her character. The Parlor, her home base, was full of explorable objects, open-able boxes, and a collection of books hand-selected to enrich the overall atmosphere and context of the world. -
Eliza on StairsMadeline looks on as Eliza performs Ophelia's death from Hamlet (as told by Gertrude) many times over until delirious. Eliza Poe, Edgar's mother, had played Ophelia on stage and much of Eliza's text in Mesmeric Revelations was derived from the ill-fated Shakespeare character. Additional resonance comes from the detective Auguste, who investigates the bodies of two women dredged up from a river. -
Auguste MonolougesAuguste, portrayed by Alexander Scally and David Brasington (pictured) speaks over 2500 words of text throughout the two-hour performance. Here, he is illustrating time and train schedules using available materials. The character is based on C. Auguste Dupin, the first and original detective created by Poe. Auguste in "Mesmeric Revelations" finds his use of logic to be failing him in a world that is governed by different rules. -
Soundtrack Excerpt from Mesmeric RevelationsA snippet of music and sound that play during the final act, when narratives unravel and the fabric of the world begins to tear. Composed and recorded by Glenn Ricci, the full soundtrack is over two hours long with a mixture of music and soundscapes scoring every moment of the action. The soundtrack was composed concurrently with the rest of the devising process, resulting in a fully integrated set of themes and cues that unified the nine separate narratives. In addition to the main soundtrack, three private areas also had independently running soundscapes.
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Barkeep and SarahBarkeep, played by Lisi Stoessel (pictured right) and Caitlin Bouxsein, offers a paper rose and a glass of sand to Sarah, played by Ann Turiano (pictured left) and Shannon Graham. The character of Sarah was inspired by Sarah Helen Whitman, a poet, spiritualist, and fiancee of Poe's. Barkeep, an androgynous amalgam of Poe's characters, slowly discovers what and who they are over the course of the performance. -
Ballroom SceneAll characters (and most of the audience) converge for the first time during a ballroom scene at the end of Act I. As Virginia (right, played by Natanya Sheva Washer) enters, time begins to warp. -
WorkshoppingThe Spring Edition of "Mesmeric Revelations" was devised over a nine-month period, starting in July 2014. The six original performers worked with the creative team to develop material off-site until early 2015 when they began assembling scenes in the Enoch Pratt House. Props, sounds, and sets were developed concurrently. For the Fall Edition, ten additional performers joined the original group and the double-cast of 16 spent ten more weeks learning and re-devising the piece for a more complex Fall Edition of the experience. -
Trailer for Fall 2015 Edition of "The Mesmeric Revelations! of Edgar Allan Poe"
Role: Concept, Co-producer, Co-director, Composer, Sound Designer. Devised with Ensemble. A view into the immersive experience as well as an example of my video and sound work (directed and edited by Glenn Ricci). Video footage for this trailer was shot during a single performance of "Mesmeric Revelations" with audience members wearing body-mounted cameras. All sound and music heard was also a part of the live performance.
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The Stranger's RoomAdded to the Fall Remount: A handful of guests each evening are invited to climb the servants' stairs and enter the private room where The Stranger resides. A private show-within-the-show, The Stranger was a secret and personal mediation on history and loss. The Stranger would mop scraps on the floor into circle. Each were replicas of historical documents related to the stories told by The Stranger. After channeling a first-person account ending with the the loss of a loved one, the guest would be invited to write down the name of someone they had lost. Many found their encounter with The Stranger deeply moving.
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The Stranger: The Wall of NamesPart of The Stranger: a secreat and personal show-within-a-show added for the Fall Edition. After channeling a first-person account ending with the the loss of a loved one, the guest would be invited to write down the name of someone they had lost. They would then be led to a separate room where the guest added their name to a wall containing many others. Many months after the closing of Mesmeric Revelations, the cast gathered to complete the ritual. Each name left on the Stranger's wall by audience members was read aloud and ceremonially burned. It was yet another reminder that we had created something that had extended well beyond any single performance. Performer: Martha Robichaud.
