Interview with The Octopus sound designer Matt Reich. Cock and Bull Arts digital virtual theatre experience

Matt Reich, Chicago Sound Designer and Co-Director of The Octopus by Cock and Bull Arts

The Octopus is the latest project of the Chicago arts organization Cock and Bull Arts directed by Chris Garcia Peak and Matt Reich. It’s a digital choose-your-own-adventure experience where players can explore many quirky versions of modern life with the help of a many-legged, all-knowing cephalopod overlord. It’s not an easy game to describe: you just have to play it for yourself!

Creating The Octopus was a highly collaborative process because it pulled from many different skill sets such as film making, acting, storytelling, logic programming (using the platform Typeform), and sound design. We sat down with Matt Reich to talk about his work on the project. Matt is a sound designer and engineer with over 40 credits, including two Jeff Nominations for Sound Design. He has been involved in several of Cock and Bull’s ventures, including; Voolf, Voyage, Lecherous Honey, and now The Octopus .

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 How did you go about designing the soundscape for The Octopus?

Matt: Designing The Octopus was a real treat. There were so many different opportunities to include sound in the project. Every video has some sound, be it subtle underscore or big dramatic music. The piece goes in so many different directions and has so many different moods it was fun to play off all the various performances and situations. Not all works feature such variety and opportunity for sound. 

What was it like to design the piece entirely virtually?

Chris Garcia Peak, Co-Director and Video Designer of The Octopus, Artistic Director of Cock and Bull Arts

Matt: It was fun to respond to the actor's performance and the way the videos were edited. The pacing of the edits and energy of the performance informs the sound design of the piece, almost as much as the text itself. Designing the piece virtually was very different from live theater, and I became very detail-oriented and 'zoomed in' and time everything down to the millisecond, which I can't do in live theater as I need to account for subtle differences in actor performance every night. 

Can you describe the sound design?

Matt: Like most of my design work, I take a lot of inspiration from electronic music. It's the genre of music I love most, and I feel it offers a great variety of moods within a consistent tonal palate. You can find joyous music and music that is dread-inducing all within the same genre. For The Octopus, I had fun exploring Italo Disco, Chicago House music, and some modern avant-garde classical music.

“Few companies are design-forward, which shows in Cock and Bull's bold aesthetics.”

Chicago Actor Meg Elliott plays Mildred Bridge, a Human Resource Manager of nightmares

You also acted in The Octopus. What was that like?

Matt: Yes! The Octopus was my debut acting performance. It was a ton of fun. I have been collaborating with Chris for almost a decade, so he made things very comfortable and encouraged me to get out of my usual comfort zone and try acting for the first time since high school. 

Check out the entire Cast and Design Team of Cock and Bull Arts The Octopus

The cast is featured in surreal collage images created by Indonesian Artist Geri Widodo. Visual design and aesthetics are a major component of Cock and Bull’s aesthetic. Check out more Collage Art. Eddie Jordan (pictured) is an actor in Shanghai, China who plays Maverick in The Octopus.

How would you describe the work of Cock and Bull Arts from a design perspective?

Matt: Working with Cock and Bull is always a treat. Chris Garcia Peak gives me the perfect mix of direction and freedom. I know I can push the envelope and go for bold choices, and I will be supported. Few companies are design-forward, which shows in Cock and Bull's bold aesthetics.

Los Angeles actor Nathan Streifel, actors were observed self-taping in front of green/blue screens and video and sound design was layered in at a later date. Actors were responsible for filming on Iphones.

Nathan Streifel plays Azriel Feinstein, The former child prodigy in Cock and Bull’s The Octopus. Players meet the “strangers” on trains and then are taken on a wild ride.

Why should people play The Octopus? In other words, what do you want them to get out of it?

Matt: The Octopus is unlike anything else I've seen or interacted with. It refers to Choose Your Own Adventure Games and Role Playing games but has its Cock and Bull flair. Since Covid hit in a world of Zoom read-throughs of plays, The Octopus stands out as a wholly unique and exciting experience. 

Creating The Octopus. Interactive storytelling with Chris Garcia Peak from Chicago's Cock and Bull Arts. →

Founder and Artistic Director Chris Garcia Peak, Co-Director of The Octopus an interactive choose-your-own-adventure story out March 11th, 2022.

by Ethan K.W

I stumbled upon something brewing in the Midwest, always on the lookout for the latest scoop on upcoming trends in the art scene. For a little over a decade, Chicago-based non-profit art and theatre group has been at the forefront of innovation in combining digital arts, drama, and other artistic mediums. This is ‘Cock and Bull’, a grant recipient of The Foundation of Contemporary Arts, The Driehaus Foundation, and members of the National Network of Ensemble Theatres. Founded by Artistic Director Chris Garcia Peak, this art group has produced several plays, often exploring psychology and sexuality in fantastical and surreal settings.

This Chicago based experimental arts organization presents the world premiere of a choose-your-own-adventure digital story, The Octopus. The Octopus is virtual theatre combining gameformance and storytelling into a hybrid digital platform.  

Influenced by the rise in online conspiracy theories, the company wanted to tell a story differently in a virtual space. The Octopus is a dark comedy examining how someone gets trapped in the world of conspiracy theories searching for a better existence. “Just when you think your life is awful, The Octopus reminds you it can get a lot worse. The Octopus is part guru, part mind-controlling beast, and she wants what’s best for you…really,” says Artistic Director and founder Chris Garcia Peak. “We utilized technology to tell a story in a new way. We are still experimenting with telling stories and performing outside of the traditions of the theatrical space”. Since 2009, Cock and Bull has focused more on process than performance, creating devised work, producing original plays, and venturing into narrative podcasts series and digital performance. 

Lately, particularly in the last decade, the emphasis on art in games has truly become dramatically more intense. In the past, the appearance of the game was second fiddle to more important aspects like gameplay and story. Often this was the case because the capability of technology was limited, and computer graphics were simply not able to display anything approaching realistic. Now that computer technology has advanced by light-years, artists have opened up a new avenue, and digital art has approached center stage to dive into new technology.

I sat down with Chris Garcia Peak, Cock and Bull’s Founder and Artistic Director.

Digital Collages by Geri Widodo, Indonesian based collage artist.

First thing I’d like to thank you for the chance to speak with you. I know I might be jumping the gun a bit, but I really honestly cannot contain my excitement about The Octopus. What can you tell us about it?

Chris: The Octopus is a choose your own adventure interactive digital story featuring a mix of actors from Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Germany, China. It’s really about conspiracy theories or how you can easily get trapped in the world of conspiracy theories. It’s a funny look at how this can happen to someone and the crazy people you meet along the way.

Can you tell us who is The Octopus? I noticed on the website that the tagline is ‘The Octopus is waiting to change your life,’ which I find very intriguing. I’ve been really curious about whether this is about a person or based on anyone in particular? 

Chris: The Octopus is a real Octopus who wants world domination and power and has coaxed someone into questioning their life choices.

Conspiracy theories, misinformation, and collage art inspired Cock and Bull Arts

Circling back to something you said earlier, can you give us some clarification about what you meant by The Octopus being about conspiracy theories? How have conspiracy theories influenced the creative process? Any insight on that would be amazing.

Chris: During the election, I started reading a lot about people lost in the world of various conspiracy theories. They all had similarities, the main one was how unhappy everyone was in their daily life, and the Pandemic didn’t help things. People who were and are stuck hate their work life, their home life, they want something more, and just like with any cult, they find the answers. They then all realize their life could actually get worse. Ours is a much lighter version of this, we aren’t taking ourselves too seriously, but it’s a fun adventure.

When and how did this project start? Was there anyone that you collaborated with when deciding on the topic and tone of The Octopus? How does this latest project relate to your team’s previous work?

Cock and Bull company member Eddy Karch plays Stefan the conceptual artist in The Octopus Interactive Story

Chris: During the start of the Pandemic in 2020, I knew we had to do something, so we created an online virtual international art festival called Sessions – Isolation. I took the event we had produced over the years about exposing Chicago to experimental film, performance artists, etc. We did it online with artists from around the world, filmmakers, solo performers, writers, dancers, and visual artists. The work was focused on how they interpreted Isolation or their pieces related to Isolation. It was a great way to work with other actors and performers in Chicago and our company members in a new way. We had finished a narrative podcast series The Children of Nyx, so I knew our next piece had to be a digital project; I thought a short film initially. One of our co-artistic directors Sarah Hecht and I kept talking about conspiracy theories, and I felt like that was the rabbit hole we needed to go down. Also, to keep working together virtually felt like we were pushing ourselves to think outside the norms of performance.

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Actor Tilman Böhnke recorded live from Potsdam, Germany with directors Chris Garcia Peak and Matt Reich. Chicago actor Sierra Phan (right) plays multiple roles in Cock and Bull Arts interactive story The Octopus premiering March 11, 2022.

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What can you tell us about your creative process for The Octopus? To what degree did the actors and other members of the team collaborate in the early steps taken in the design direction? How did you come to the decision that you were going to make a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ interactive story?

Chris: I created a basic story or outline, very rough that was like two pages, and sent my company members a writing assignment. It was almost like Mad-libs, which was a much more significant influence on me than I ever thought. So I got the responses back in a matter of days. Everyone was having fun with it, and the answers were so fantastic. Their content formed the story and created all of the characters in the piece. I was trying to find a way to share everyone’s responses and ran across Typeform (form building app/bot). I just started playing around with it, we then partnered with them, and seeing its ability and thought this would be super cool to do a designed choose your own adventure story, so it is all created by Cock and Bull company members.  

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Co-artistic director and Story Developer Sarah Hecht. Hecht also plays Romance Novelist Allison Brie. Co-Director and Artistic Director Matt Reich also served as sound designer on the interactive story The Octopus by Cock and Bull Arts.

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You mentioned earlier that you have team members from around the world living in the US, UK, Germany, and China. I assume that requires a lot of scheduling and coordination to make progress on the project. What can you tell us about the process of working with actors virtually?

Actor Eddie Jordan

“I worked with Eddie a long time ago, he is one of the best comedic actors, his timing and skills are really deep and funny.”

Chris: We started working with actors and then had to re-think our whole process. Matt Reich, our sound designer, co-director, and I observed via Zoom actors self-taping in front of green screens. We tried to utilize actors' ability to self-tape, which they really had to sharpen during the Pandemic. 

We gave actors certain moments or things they had to mention, but it was all improv. At times I would interview them; each actor was a bit different. The cool thing is that each actor costumed themselves and had to be their tech assistant. The actors were all so amazing to work with. It was also a new way to work. We could work with someone like Nathan Streifel in Los Angeles, our company member Kristen King in London, and an outstanding actor Tilman Böhnke, in Potsdam, Germany, and Eddie Jordan, who lives in China. Eddie’s was interesting. Because of the time difference, we decided to just let him tape on his phone in various locations and establish his character more organically. 

“The Octopus is a real Octopus who wants world domination and power and has coaxed someone into questioning their life choices.”

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Chicago actor Van Ferro, actors were recorded in at home green screen self-taping set-ups. Chicago’s Chic Filet aka Heinrich Haley plays Bebe The Art Dealer and Alyssa the Nuclear Physicist in Cock and Bull Arts interactive story The Octopus.

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Finally, I wanted to ask you about the approach you have taken to the overall design of this new project? Could you tell us more about Matthew Reich’s role, and are there other people who contributed to The Octopus that you want to give a shout-out to?

Chris: Matt and I tend to think the same aesthetically or have worked together enough. I can say one or two things, and he knows what we are going after. He has a great way of creating and filling out the world sonically. I did the majority of video design and outsourced some editing, worked with the actors on-camera. We wanted a darker, saturated feel to the videos of jump cuts and the idea that these are all made under the Ocean by the Octopus in her lair.

The Octopus, by the way, is a voice-over by an outstanding British voice actor (Jenny Steele), and hearing her helped flesh out the story development for me. I used and expanded on created content with our Story editor and developer, co-artistic director, Sarah Hecht, hearing The Octopus in my head. Company-member Noah Lepawsky and I also created a dramaturgical deep dive on our website, so if you really want to sink down into the world of The Octopus, you can dive in.   

Los Angeles actor Nathan Streifel plays Azriel Feinstein, the former child piano prodigy in Cock and Bull’s The Octopus digital interactive story

Readers can find out more about Cock and Bull by visiting their website.

Check out the cast and more collage art.

Again, a hot thanks to Chris Garcia Peak for sharing details about this exciting new digital art project, featuring:Tilman Böhnke, Meg Elliot, Eddy Jordan, Van Ferro, Sarah August Hecht, Eddy Karch, Kirsten King, Sierra Phan, Jenny Steele, Nathan Streifel, and Matt Reich.

The digital arts choose-your-own-adventure project ‘The Octopus’ will be premiering in 2022, and I can’t wait to see it and experience it for myself!

Ethan K.W. is a Washington based writer for Arts and Lifestyle

The Octopus launches FRIDAY MARCH 11th at Cockandbullarts.org free to play the interactive story, ages 18+, headphones encouraged and donations accepted to support the work of Cock and Bull Arts.

Jessica Moritz & Diana Schuemann- INSIDE OUT- Artists Deep Dive Q&A

Artists Jessica Moritz & Diana Schuemann creators of INSIDE OUT featured in our Artists Isolation Gallery join Cock and Bull Artistic Director Chris Garcia Peak live from Israel for an Artists deep dive and discussion about INSIDE OUT. INSIDE OUT is a collision of movement and urban architecture exploring choreography and the physical limitations of space.

Jessica Moritz is French-Israeli artist lives and works in Tel Aviv. Diana Schuemann is a performer, dancer, as well as an art historian with a research focus on dance pieces dealing with the Holocaust and Genocide.

Continuum Live Performance Émilie-Christine Newman

Émilie-Christine Newman is a Canadian artist living and working in London, UK. Her short piece Continuum is featured in our Isolation Artist Gallery.

Join Cock and Bull company member Kristen King for a live artist Q&A and live performance by Émilie-Christine Newman. Her practice is highly gestural and is built around themes of loss, mortality, and rebirth. Join us live from London for Continuum.

Instagram Artists Chat Vishal Shah

Meet artist Vishal Shah for an Artist Instagram chat and Q&A. discussing inspiration, his sound object piece Vellum and new projects. Vishal Shah is featured in our Artists Isolation Gallery.

Vishal Shah has directed and produced moving image work for international screenings, public galleries, and academic institutions across Europe, America, and Asia. If there is a visual story and element to explore, he brings new ideas with a collaborative mindset. Born in Mumbai, raised in London, he lives and works in Berlin.

Wednesday Inspiration Watch Party - Diego Báez Cuentos

Join us as Chicago writer Diego Báez shows us inspiration clips for his Cuentos as a part of our Wednesday Facebook Watch Parties. Read Diego Báez collection of Cuentos or stories in our Writers Workshop Room. Diego shares a collection of videos that inspire his life and his Cuentos. Diego Báez is a writer and educator based in Chicago. His poems can be found most recently at The Rumpus, Anomaly, and Illinois's Best Emerging Poets 2019. Go to our Cock and Bull Facebook page at the time of the event.

Ben Creech: SELF & Other Early Works: the mixtape cut- Artist Q&A and Watch Party

Join us for an artist Q&A and watch party of Chicago artists Ben Creech’s 60 min. piece SELF & Other Early Works: the mixtape cut, featured in our Isolation Artists Gallery

SELF & Other Early Works: the mixtape cut is a 60-min playlist of head-spinning animations, philosophy Supercuts, films to break projectors, street art elegies, compendiums of consumption, and other ephemera. It reflects upon Creech’s time in art school, as well as questions on sampling, copyright, memory, history, and the self and the other. It is made in pursuit of new frameworks for cinematic thinking.

Writer Noah Lepawsky on Creating The Children of Nyx and Inspiration

Why The Children of Nyx?

Noah Lepawsky, ,the writer of The Children of Nyx

When I was 19, I volunteered with a fundraising group for a women's shelter and crisis line. I thought I was signing up for a feel-good, do-gooder type of thing, but it was a very political group. There was a lot of "consciousness-raising" as they call it. I ended up examining a lot about my identity, beliefs, and behavior. That was years ago, but being critical of myself and the world around me stayed with me. Critical in the sense of knowing more of what I want and being more of who I'd like to be.  The Children of Nyx is a distorted fantasy looking at my own thoughts and behaviors. Each man in the piece is a bit of me, as is maybe every character, even the ones who are only talked about. I hope it's more than that. I also wanted a piece that uses the aesthetic Cock and Bull has been developing over our history, and that was created with this specific cast in mind.

Laura Resinger & Noah Lepawsky

What does the title mean?

In Greek mythology, the Furies are lesser but still powerful deities who oversee things like the keeping of oaths and domestic justice. Like most myths, there are variations of their origin. In some sources, they are born from the Goddess of Night, called Nyx -so they are the children of Night or Nyx.

What was your inspiration?

Cock and Bull decided that ensemble members should submit project ideas. I had nothing but a few free-floating thoughts, so I looked at our members and saw all the unique talent of the people I got to work with, and I wanted to make something that knitted them to my imagination. Around the same time (it's hard to know if it occurred all on its own), I started to really dive into close harmony vocal groups, especially all-female ones. Also, I was very aware of the epidemic of femicide the world over, no less in Canada and the US. These things all mingling together eventually became The Children of Nyx.

What are you favorite crime fiction or mystery books or movies?

There's a book called Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson that's more about the interior life of people who end up breaking the law that I love and wish I had written. Also, there's an excellent film adaptation of it with Billy Crudup. There's an old CBC anthology series called Nightfall (especially their adaptation of the Tell-Tale Heart), and The Truth is a great current anthology series. One of my favorite crime films is Jackie Brown and the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, I love the narration that no one but the world's biggest movie star could have gotten put into a film... it's amazing.

Director Chris Garcia Peak & Sound Designer Matt Reich

What do you want people to take away from the podcast?

I really want them to experience it as a narrative, I hope they get caught up in the characters and the world they inhabit. And I hope that story shows the terrain of how men devalue and harm women, and how those personal acts become part of the larger world we live in. I want men to recognize ourselves in the men in this story, even if our actions aren't as extreme. And I hope everyone falls in love with the Furies, even if it is an uneasy love.

What was the most challenging part about recording?

It was a challenge translating written dialogue and images into sonic ones. You just don't know how it will fit together to create the images and story you want, so you have to adapt continuously, and for the success of that, we really have our sound engineer, director, and voice performers to thank.

LISTEN TO THE CHILDREN OF NYX AVAILABLE ON APPLE PODCASTS and your favorite podcast platforms Episode 1-5 out now.

COCK AND BULL VIRTUAL FESTIVAL SESSIONS/ISOLATION

Sessions/Isolation is a virtual festival and online gallery event produced by Cock and Bull non-profit arts organization in Chicago. The festival was a great way to keep producing our event Sessions but in a virtual way. It also gave artists a chance to showcase their work they had been creating in lockdown, or that was reflective of isolation, “ Chris Garcia Peak - Artistic Director, Cock and Bull. 

Sessions/Isolation features the release of the new five-part fiction-podcast series "The Children of Nyx" by CockandBull.  The online festival includes an isolation radio drama lounge of playwright and actor paired mini-podcasts featuring Chicago playwright Rachel Bykowski, Los Angeles playwright Megan Breen, paired with London Actor Kristen King and Chicago actor Tiff Abreu. Acoustic musicians are featured in their own mini-at home sessions, including; singer-songwriter Robby Hecht from Nashville, TN, Casey Morris, and Isabella Coelho from Chicago, Nathan Streifel from Los Angeles, CA. The festival also includes Chicago writers Diego Báez, Kala Francis Wahl, and Chris Garcia Peak. 

Session/Isolation includes a digital artists gallery of over ten national and international solo performers, digital artists and filmmakers from Chicago, Berlin, Israel, London, and Portugal including; Catalina Cazacu - London, Daniela Lucato - Berlin, Beatriz Freitas- Portugal, Noah Wing- Denver, Ben Creech - Chicago, Vishal Shaw - London, Sarah Hecht - Chicago, Jessica Moritz - Tel Aviv, Émilie-Christine Newman- London, Forristal & Clarke - London._ in a collection responding to their time in lockdown or work that is reflective of isolation. 

Plus, an isolation survival guide featuring recommended books, vinyl, movies, and a great roast chicken recipe! 

Sessions/Isolation online festival is available through September 1st with live virtual events, Instagram chats with artists happenings throughout the summer.  

The festival is live at http://www.cockandbullarts.org.

Sessions/Isolation online festival is available through September 1st with live virtual events, Instagram chats with artists happenings throughout the summer. 

The festival is live COCKANDBULLARTS

Magic Box Story Time With Lottie Allen & Rebecca Purton

Join Magic Box creator Lottie Allen from London and her sister and Magic Box story writer Rebecca Purton from Tokyo for an artists Q&A and virtual watch party of "The Tale of the Lost and Found!" Wednesday July 29th. Lottie is featured in our Artists Salon.

THE CHILDREN OF NYX PODCAST OUT NOW

Cock and Bull’s first podcast series The Children of Nyx is out now. Available on apple podcasts, anchor, spotify and other platforms.

The Children of Nyx - Five-Part Podcast Series

The Furies, the Kindly Ones, the Dread. Whatever the sisters were called in the old times their charge was to extract retribution. Now it’s the 1970’s and The Destinies are a close harmony group traveling through rural Pennsylvania. No one ever remembers when they arrived or how long they’ve been there. Part ancient legend, part murder mystery, and part band road trip, “Children of Nyx,” is about women hunting down men who’ve done wrong. And finding, if not justice, some kind of cosmic harmony.

Written by Noah Lepawsky

Directed by Chris Garcia Peak

Sound Design, Recording and Engineering by Matt Reich

produced by Cock and Bull

Featuring Meg Elliott, Diana Lee, Andy Fleischer, Eddy Karch, Sarah Hecht, Noah Lepawsky and Laura Resinger

Children of Nyx - Series podcast - Inspiration

Writer Noah Lepawsky and Chris Garcia Peak share inspiration for the upcoming podcast story series The Children of Nyx.