David Byrne Announces ‘Theater of the Mind’ Show

David Byrne announced a new immersive live show, Theater of the Mind, will open in Denver on Aug. 31 and run until Dec. 18, playing to audiences of 16 members at a time.

A statement announcing details came with the warning: “Caution: The brain may wander. Side effects may include a distrust of your own senses, a disorientation of self and a mild to severely good time. You may not be who you think you are. But we’re all in it together.”

Created by Byrne alongside writer Mala Gaonkar and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Off-Center, the production will “take audience members through an immersive journey of self-reflection, discovery and imagination, inspired by and grounded in neuroscience.” Attendees will be exposed to sensory experiences that will “reveal the inner mysteries of the brain.”

“It is super-exciting to premiere this show with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts,” Byrne said. “I hope participants will be as surprised by these experiences, just as I have been – it really is a new kind of theater.”

He outlined the work in progress in 2019, telling Rolling Stone that "it will be in a warehouse, where it’s divided into a bunch of different rooms. A group of 16 audience members will go from room to room and experience these perceptual things. When they leave one room, another group goes in there. That way, you can get 400 people in from 6PM to 10. You get the same number as if it were a theater show, but you get more in small groups. ... I am so convinced that because it’s about perception and sensory stuff, there’s gonna be a lot of gummy bears and other stuff in there.”

Tickets for Theater of the Mind, at the multi-use York Street Yards, go on general sale in May. Full details will be available on the website.