Who are BAGEL+BALLOON?

We’re a couple who fuse together our respective practices in game design and participatory art to create new interactive experiences. Check out the rest of our website to learn more!

What is DIGIDAMARA?

Digidamara is an original interactive theatre piece inspired by the Depression-era dance marathons of the 1930s. This project will explore themes of proximity, deservingness of support, two-tiered societies, and perceptions of reality through the hybrid application of devised theatre, object puppetry and a custom digital interface.

The more players (the audience) interact, the more they discover. A devising ensemble will create the script and characters which will adapt based on the audience input into the website. Theatrical live-streamed “Roundups” full of improvised skits, movement sequences and object theatre will be made in response, brought to life with the devising expertise of key collaborators Theatre Du Poulet. As the competition picks up pace and the fictional couples are whittled down, stories deepen, relationships are shredded and remade, and a winning team arises.

Position summary

Digidamara melds a website simulation of a dance marathon with prerecorded and live streamed performances – essentially an interactive theatre event driven by digital interactions. Your role as Performer/Puppeteer will be to devise and create characters for  the improvised ”Roundups” and contribute to the writing of content for the Digidamara website. You will be working directly with Francine/Balloon, our Artistic Director and Theatre Du Poulet.

We are currently designing the bones of the pilot. Your first few days would be spent giving feedback on this proposed plan based on your expertise. We are seeking a team member who is open to collaboration and experimentation. 

The project is in its pilot stage and CCA funded. There may be opportunity to work on Digidamara in the future as it grows.

Wages and timeline

We are offering $160/day (1 day is 7.5hrs excluding breaks).

Approx. 30 non-consecutive days required between Dec 2021 – May 2022.

This project fits best around other commitments you may have and we understand that you may have other work at the same time. We will strive for set days during the week for a regular routine. The tech + pilot run is expected to be 8 consecutive days.

Have a read of the skills and responsibilities below! 

Skills:

• Physical Theatre 
• Object Puppetry 
• Devising and collaborative creation
• Experience working remotely with an artistic team
• Awareness of how to create safe spaces for all, especially equity seeking groups, LGBTQIA2S+, etc.
• Excellent communication skills
• Patience, interpersonal skills

Bonus:

• Cinematography experience

Responsibilities:

• Attend in person and virtual rehearsals with the Artistic Director and Theatre Du Poulet
• Potentially build simple puppets and definitely play with objects!
• Improvise and record object puppetry footage for the live round ups in response to the Digidamara website
• Participate and give feedback during debrief
• Collaborate and meet with the Artistic Director, Technical Director and Project Managers to communicate needs and stay within pilot budget (we want to know how long tasks are taking and not to over work our team!)
• Hold open-mindedness during an interdisciplinary process