The Smartphone Orchestra Brings immersive Storytelling to the Tomorrow Theater This Week

For the first time on the West Coast, PAM CUT’s Tomorrow Theater will premiere The Smartphone Orchestra on April 5 and 6, with an artist talk on April 4. Tickets are free and must be reserved online. These incredible interactive storytelling, audio, and gaming experiences play out not just on mobile phones, but connect us in real life. Jump in to help make music, master the art of love, and learn to speak only in Emoji! Charge your phone all the way to 100, bring your friends, and get ready for the night of your life.

“The smartphone is literally getting more and more ‘under our skin’,” says Steye Hallema, initiator of The Smartphone Orchestra, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. “It makes a lot of things much easier, however, I regularly ask myself if it is healthy for us to be continually overloaded with information. Our brain also needs to be able to daydream and to ‘tune out.’ This is why we wanted to reverse the operation of the smartphone and use it to get people to come together and share a wonderful experience.”

Normally audiences are asked to put away their cell phones at a theater, but with The Smartphone Orchestra, participants use them in wildly collaborative ways that help them to connect with themselves and their neighbors in all new ways. These collective performances turn people and their phones into one big awkward family through a collaborative mix of theater, gaming, music, and storytelling.

This inventive night of technology-driven fun has audiences constructing a monumental orchestral symphony composed especially for the night, using the emoji feature to stimulate conversation and curiosity, and learning more about themselves in the absurdist Social Sorting Experiment. And, you might just make some good analog friends along the way!

“We are elated to host the West Coast premiere of Smartphone Orchestra for Portland audiences after sold-out runs in New York and throughout Europe,” said Amy Dotson, Director of PAM CUT // Center for an Untold Tomorrow and Curator of Film and New Media at the Portland Art Museum. “Their unique, collaborative, multimedia experiences are the stuff we love, where the audiences actively create one-of-a-kind stories, music, and connection, all while pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.” 

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