The Radically Inclusive Storytelling of UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time 

“Artists developing radically inclusive work”—this is how Up Until Now Collective describes themselves. The New York-based collective is new to the scene, taking the stage in 2020 amidst the early days of the pandemic. Their work focuses on “intimacy, empathy, and connection” through multidisciplinary, innovative artmaking. The collective’s mission is informed by co-founder Brandon Kazen-Maddox’s experience as a grandchild of deaf adults (GODA). Much of the work the group creates utilizes American Sign Language (ASL) dance theatre, UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time included. UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time most recently performed at Jack in Brooklyn in 2024. The piece is a short, interactive experience that features a short film, music performance, and sensory storytelling. The short film featured in the piece, “UpUntilNow” (commissioned by Beth Morrison Projects), debuted in 2022 at the Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC Film Festival in Los Angeles, California, and then premiered in New York at NewFest. The project combines the work of two dozen artists across disciplines and genres to create this amalgam of moving and exciting interactive performance. In its accessibility, the world created by UP UNTIL NOW:midair for some time envelops audiences in a magical new reality full of acceptance and community.

UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time showcased a world in which sensory technology enhances in-person storytelling. A future that is radically inclusive to all abilities is also radically enveloping to its audience.

The most notable sensory element in the piece is the use of haptics. The audience enters the performance from the lobby and is greeted by someone who helps them into gear. A backpack-like vest is shouldered on and paired with ankle and wrist cuffs. The guide lets the audience know they will be in the back of the space and if at any point the experience is too much the audience can find them or put a hand up to be taken out of the haptics gear. Up Until Now Collective used the devices created for the arts project Music: Not Impossible. An NPR article about Music: Not Impossible's wearable technology describes the texture of the vibrations by saying, “It can feel like raindrops on your shoulders, a tickle across the ribs, a thump against the lower back.” While haptics gear has its origins in video gaming, the work of Music: Not Impossible brings the technology to live art experiences, not only opening the world of sound to Deaf and hard of hearing communities, but also enabling a new layer of performance making. UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time showcased a world in which sensory technology enhances in-person storytelling. A future that is radically inclusive to all abilities is also radically enveloping to its audience. To quote the HowlRound essay “Nothing About Us Without Us” by Talleri Adkins McRae and Mikey Rowe, “We as theatre artists can model what an inclusive and accessible future looks like; a better future.”

After strapping into the gear, the audience is led into a small space with a few chairs, a small pool of water, and a perimeter of sand, all surrounded by stills from the film and the process of its creation. Sitting in one of the chairs is a cellist who underscores the entire performance. The live music brings the world of the prerecorded film into the present moment. As the short film begins to play, the haptics gear vibrates in response to the action on screen. The action on screen is narrated by a voice that one assumes is pre-recorded sound diegetic to the film. The narrative of the piece involves a character whose car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, leaving them stranded in the forest. They leave their car and go looking for help. In their search, they stumble upon a group of merpeople in a lake. The merpeople are a fabulously attired group of people wearing glittery, glistening tails and special effects makeup. The merpeople invite the lost person in and in a moment of magical transition, the lead is transformed into a merperson themselves. The lead’s experience of losing their way, searching for help, finding people who embrace them, and then transitioning into a merperson and joining the group represents queer acceptance and community. Midway into the film, when the lead comes upon the merpeople, the actor who plays the lead merperson steps forward into the performance space and it becomes apparent they are the source of the narration. The film then gives way to the theatrical portion of the show as the lead from the film steps forward and dances their way through the water and sand. The two actors dance together and explore the live connection between their bodies. In using the same leads for the film as the live piece, the production breaks the fourth wall in a metatheatrical manner. The audience feels as though they are even further within the world of the film. Nothing is real and everything is real.

Watching this moment, my idea of what this piece entailed shattered and reformed into something more breathtaking. I felt as though I was entering a world refreshingly unlike my own. The haptics, live music, and casting worked together to make the world within the theatre meld with the world within the film. The artists expanded the universe created on screen through mirroring of sensations like visuals, audio, and tactile vibrations. The set design utilizes much of the imagery and elements of the film. The sand and water ground the piece in the reality of nature, while also acknowledging the magical world of mermaids in the film. The music created live next to the audience wraps them in the world created by the collective. The haptics gear provides another layer of physical immersion, allowing the audience to feel the sensuality of the film’s experiences. The ASL dance choreography is evocative and dynamic, sharing story without using words. Even for those who don’t know ASL, the dance is interpretive enough to understand what it conveys. With the casting of the same lead actors from the short film, the live iteration acts as a suggestion of the world of the film existing outside of the screen. This invitation into the world of the film showed me the storytelling that is possible when accessibility is at the forefront. Perhaps the world of the film, where a person searching for help is immediately embraced and welcomed into a magical community, isn’t so different from our world. Perhaps we can all find our people, like the merpeople, who accept us in our differences and are vibrantly colorful in their own.

When the audience enters the lobby of the theatre, they are surrounded by materials relating to the show. Poems are pasted to the walls alongside their Braille translations to increase accessibility. I spent much of my time before the show sitting in the lobby reading a dogeared, heavily annotated copy of The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions, a cult classic queer utopian text whose ideas echo through this performance. This book is a gay manifesto told through fable, a series of short allegorical scenes set in a fictional declining empire. The book’s themes of radical queer solidarity, anti-assimilation, and community care are all present in UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time.

The show is interactive at its core, from the lobby installations to the guide helping with the haptics gear and answering any audience questions to the climactic moment of the project. This climax takes place when the performers break the fourth wall and ask people who are comfortable being touched to put their hands out. The performers then make contact with each willing audience member individually, pouring care into every moment of connection. After this contact, it is impossible to leave the show feeling untouched—literally and emotionally. This brief but powerful connection filled a void I didn’t know existed within me. I was reminded of humans’ deep need for touch and relationship; our species’ animalistic impulse for community and how our current world is not set up to foster this; how novel and invigorating it can feel to return to these instincts, to embrace the need for each other in a moment; how feeling a true sense of care and a bond with strangers can change our perception of the world.

At every step, the show invites the audience to bring their whole self to the experience and to react authentically to the world around them, forging deeper connections.

Oftentimes, after the performance is over, the actors speak with the audience and ask them what the piece brought up for them. Audiences are encouraged to write how the piece made them feel on a sticky note and place it on the wall in the lobby. At every step, the show invites the audience to bring their whole self to the experience and to react authentically to the world around them, forging deeper connections.

Interestingly, the film portion of the project took place during COVID shutdowns. This is evident in the film’s themes, which include a greater longing for community and a sense of belonging. The live performance of the piece takes these ideas and runs with them. It feels like a direct reaction to life after these shutdowns—the need for human touch and connection that was not viable for a time. Not to mention how the pandemic shifted the focus of many Americans to the needs of the disabled people around us, while further disabling some infected by the virus. All audience members were required to wear a mask, a reminder of the lasting impact of COVID on disabled communities. The project explores the way technology can make us feel more connected, in contrast to the popular narrative that technology makes us feel more alone. In addition, the focus on queer community and the embracing of authentic selves is sorely needed in this political climate. At a time when LGBTQ rights are constantly under fire, UP UNTIL NOW: midair for some time celebrates the beauty in finding people who celebrate authentic expression and identity.

This show takes down barriers of inaccessibility to allow for all people to experience interactive theatre. I come from a place of privilege in regard to theatrical accessibility, so much of this was new to me and felt invigorating and exciting. The impact of the show is long lasting. After all, I saw it in the winter of 2024 and am still thinking about it. The other audience member who I experienced the production with also left impressed, with nothing but good things to say. This project tackles the difficult task of bringing the two-dimensional world of film into the three-dimensional world of theatre, combining the two to create a unique piece of live performance. The music, casting, set design, and haptics all create an environment that envelops the audience into the world of the film. Overall, this show is wildly effective in engaging audiences regardless of their backgrounds, identities, and abilities. It is radical work that uses the tools of inclusion to create a new mode of storytelling.