51����

When asked to imagine a theater stage, most people would conjure images of a playhouse, a music hall, or perhaps a black box. Joshua William Gelb imagines the 8 sq.-foot closet in his East Village apartment.

Since March 2020, “this modest space, with all its physical limitations, has transformed from a mere storage unit into the digital performance laboratory we call Theater in Quarantine (TiQ),” Gelb says.

For a Halloween treat, 51���� students became the first in-person audience for TiQ’s production of Nosferatu: A 3D Symphony of Horrors, a silent vampire film starring Gavin Price, Nicole Baker, and Gelb himself as the titular vampire. The performance migrated from New York City to Brehmer Theater and capped off a visit that was programmed by the Department of Theater and co-sponsored by the Film and Media Studies Program and the Department of Art.

In Nosferatu, TiQ bridges classic and innovative theater approaches with a unique closet stage and iconic, old-school 3D glasses. Students arrived at Brehmer Theater on Halloween night and geared up in silent disco headphones and 3D specs to view the livestream on an 8x14-foot screen, just as if they were watching on YouTube from home.

TiQ’s recipe for a spooky Halloween show: a bone-chilling monologue whispered into each audience member’s ear, campy costumes, and jump scares of nightmarish vampire attacks.

But students were in for an even bigger surprise at the conclusion of the live stream. Gelb stepped from behind the curtain, still in his gothic vampire makeup, and invited the audience backstage, where the performance had taken place. They watched Nosferatu again, this time from a never-before-seen perspective: straight across from the closet. 

From this vantage point, the creativity behind each mind-boggling illusion was brought to light. For example, Gelb clipped himself via harness to small handles drilled into the closet walls, where he perched creepily above the other actors. The TiQ team changed “sets” in mere seconds during brief moments of text-filled screens.

TiQ is a testament to Gelb’s creativity and resilience. When COVID-19 put the theater industry on pause, he was undeterred and decided to improvise. From his closet, he played with all sorts of ideas — gravity-defying illusions, environmentally reactive choreography, reimagined classics, and original pieces. He engaged in more than 100 remote collaborations and performed for audiences all over the world.

Gelb imposed four rules on himself to, “maintain the impression of theatricality,” and he shared them with 51���� students during a pre-event lecture.

1. Liveness: Performances must be given in real-time to maintain “immediacy.”
2. One Take Only: “No tricks, no editing,” and no director yelling “Cut!”
3. Whole-body Visibility: TiQ embraces the “perpetual wide shot.” No close-ups that might disrupt the illusion of being part of a live audience. 
4. Frame Preservation: Contain the body within the closet — that’s your stage.

The rules and creativity paid off. Gelb earned recognition from the New Yorker, NPR, and All Things Considered, as well as a feature in The New York Times.

Despite its birth in the pandemic era, TiQ is just getting started, Gelb says. “Almost five years later, long after theaters have reopened and pandemic precautions have diminished, TiQ remains active, albeit in a period of reinvention. We still produce digital work, but we’ve branched out also into hybrid productions, experiences for both in-person and remote audiences.”

The result is a unique, game-changing take on performance that explains and expands what it means to be theatrical.