Audiences will be led through the multi-room production by guides named “David” who will wear replicas of Byrne’s childhood wardrobe.
in an empty room inside Reid Murdoch Building downtown, former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne stood at a keyboard in front of a small audience. The Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Golden Globe winning artist — currently in Chicago for a stop on his “Who is the Sky” tour — stroked two keys on the piano as he explained his forthcoming “Theater of the Mind” production, opening next spring in Chicago.
“Theater of the Mind,” which Byrne co-created with writer Mala Gaonkar, combines elements of neuroscience, art and storytelling for a walkthrough experience on the first floor of a Chicago office building. It is modeled after a production that Byrne opened in Denver in 2022 and will be part of the Goodman Theatre’s century season, marking yet another show under artistic director Susan Booth to be backed by a big name celebrity.
In the demonstration for Tuesday’s press event, Byrne played two piano notes and asked observers to identify which note was higher. The trick, or illusion, lies in the fact the notes are identical in scale but our brains trick us into believing they are different.
“Theater of the Mind,” Byrne said, is intended to be an experience that will lead audiences to question themselves and the world around them.
“You experience the unreliability of your senses, and therefore your own memories and identity,” explained Byrne. “By the end of the show, you realize that’s what allows us to change and evolve and become the people we are at the present.
