CHEMICAL EXILE: A Psychogeographies Project

CHEMICAL EXILE

STILL AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE:
Originally released monthly in 2021/2022

A seven-chapter experience across multiple locations in Washington DC

CREATED BY Randy Baker, Kylos Brannon, Jenny McConnell Frederick, Shayla Roland, and Jonelle Walker

“Three chapters in, I’m hooked…”
District Fray Magazine

“Rorschach Theatre’s CHEMICAL EXILE excites the mind and ignites curiosity with unique storylines incorporating the fascinatingly rich history of DC.”
DC Metro Theatre Arts

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A scientist boards a plane from Amsterdam to Washington. Returning to a world she thought she knew, she discovers nothing, and nowhere, is what she expects. CHEMICAL EXILE takes participants to eight locations across the DC area as a complex story unfolds about families, forgotten histories, and the uncharted frontiers of the mind.

PSYCHOGEOGRAPHIES is Rorschach Theatre’s visionary new experience that takes participants to unexpected locations around their city while a season-long fictional narrative plays out over layers of history and magic realism. Guests receive a box in the mail monthly that includes a new Chapter in the story, each box containing hand-crafted objects – letters, drawings, souvenirs, photos, or even snacks – and a map to a location in their city. The season ends with a live in-person event that culminates the story.  

Participants can begin their adventure at any time and a subscription includes Seven Chapters + a link to a video of the culminating performance that took place in July 2021.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

Photo above: CHEMICAL EXILE’s culminating chapter,
The site-specific live performance of CHEMICAL EXILE: SYNTHESIS.
Photo: Daniel Corey Photography


What is PSYCHOGEOGRAPHIES?

Hundreds of DC-Area audiences have joined us for Rorschach’s Psychogeographies projects, described by the The Washington Post“[a] season-long immersive experience, DISTANCE FREQUENCIES sends audiences on monthly excursions to lesser-traveled Washington-area sites, where landscapes — together with the contents of curated mailed packages — help conjure a mysterious overarching story that is partly set in those locations.”

DC Metro Theatre Arts said about the project, “Rorschach Theatre’s current production is…an adventure of the mind and, if you wish, the body… The innovative form of art incorporates literature, music, mystery, romance, and DC’s highlights and history, all steeped in a hope for a better world… Rorschach Theatre has hit the jackpot with this innovative form of art, incorporating literature, music, mystery, romance, and DC’s highlights and history, all steeped in a hope for a better world.”

“Psychogeography” is a term coined by philosopher Guy Debord in the 1950s and refers to the intersection of psychology and geography. Our own psychological experiences of a city reveal hidden places – forgotten, discarded, or marginalized aspects of an urban environment. Locations have a history, a soul, a meaning beyond the dirt and bricks that surround it. These meanings range from the historical to the aesthetic to the personal, but all of these things give the space its resonance.

Safety Considerations: Participants are required to follow local and private business mask requirements where applicable. Rorschach strongly recommends all participants be vaccinated against covid 19.