Attendees will have the chance to experience dozens of fun, fascinating, often family-friendly performances and installations from local and international artists pushing boundaries, asking big questions, and reminding us that art is everywhere. Speaking of—don’t be surprised if you leave with an acting credit. Innovative and immersive, many WOW events tap audiences in as part of the show.

Ready to jump in? Here’s everything you need to know about Without Walls Festival 2024.

What is Without Walls Festival 2024?

WOW is a free performing and visual arts event featuring local and international artists. The festival offers site-specific and interactive performances, installations, and workshops, ranging from plays, musicals, and exhibitions to puppeteering, silent discos, and dance. Think of it as San Diego’s own private, international fringe festival.

When is Without Walls Festival 2024?

The 2024 WOW Festival takes place April 4–7. The WOW festival is partnering with UC San Diego this year to hold events at three main hubs on campus: the Revelle Plaza, the Epstein Family Amphitheater, and the La Jolla Playhouse (though some events take place at other venues). On Thursday, April 4, events begin at 4 p.m. and run until 8:30 p.m. Friday hours are 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday events occur 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday’s activities run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

How do I get tickets to Without Walls Festival 2024?

Though this festival is completely free, some events require or recommend an RSVP. Check out the WOW website to browse the events categorized by “RSVP Required,” “RSVP Recommended,” and “Just Show Up.” Space for some events is limited and reservations may fill up.

What should I see and be a part of at Without Walls Festival 2024?

With more than 25 different local, national, and international performances and installations to explore, picking what see will be the hardest part of your weekend. Here are some standouts:

Inertia

Get ready to find yourself following a script on the spot or boogieing with a giant bear. New York City–based artist Drew Peterson brings audiences into the action, inviting them to create a show together as you go.

Beautiful Escape: Emergency Exit

Six actors older than 60 will take to the streets for Beautiful Escape: Emergency Exit, a dance-and-theater experience that explores the anxiety and excitement of aging. The roaming show was first performed in 2010 in France.

Princess Lockerooo’s The Fabulous Waack Dancers: The Big Show

Developed in LA’s hidden gay clubs in the 1970s, waacking came to more mainstream attention on the Black culture–focused music and dance show Soul Train. Princess Lockerooo, a longtime protogé of Soul Train alum Tyrone Proctor, celebrates the art form against a heart-pounding, eclectic soundtrack.

iykyk

From local theatre company Blindspot Collective (who count collabs with The Old Globe and Diversionary Theatre among their accomplishments) comes iykyk, a youth-led showcase of nine performances at UCSD’s Che Café.

Folding Futures

You’ve heard of space tourism. Now get ready for… time tourism? Audiences become interdimensional travelers in this “extended reality” experience that sends attendees forward into 2064, where you can see—and perhaps shape—the future of earth.

Pigments of Imagination: An Interactive Virtual Reality Composition

This VR-driven production is a continuously accessible ongoing event, beginning April 4 at 5 p.m. and ending April 7 at 8 p.m. The experience utilizes various genres of music—from hip-hop and soul to blues and electronic—to tell the remarkable tale of a child’s trip to the moon.

The Apple Avenue Detective Agency 

This playable performance makes attendees ages 12 and older members of a kids’ detective club. Unleash your inner Nancy Drew and help the inquisitive young investigators solve a meaningful mystery partly inspired by writers Jeff and Andy Crocker’s real-life experiences.

Is Without Walls Festival 2024 family-friendly?

Absolutely—though, some events are more appropriate for younger audiences than others. Here are a few must-see performances and installations if you’ve got kids in tow:

Abeba in the Tall Grass

Recently commissioned by the La Jolla Playhouse, Abeba in the Tall Grass follows a fifth-grade horticulturist as she finds ways to coexist—and even connect—with not-so-like-minded students in her beloved urban garden.

Spectrum: Society of Wonder

Kaleidoscopic creatures star in this family-friendly puppet show soundtracked by a San Diego Symphony string quartet. The celestial critters will save the earth and prompt audiences to consider how they can take better care of our shared planet. Arrive early to make a lantern for the show’s set

What should I bring to Without Walls Festival 2024?

We’re finally moving out of rainy season here in San Diego, so expect mid-60s weather and sunny skies during the day, with temps dipping into the 50s at night. Dress in layers, don sunscreen, and bring a jacket to evening performances with the expectation of being outdoors most of the time.

You’ll also want a smartphone and earbuds or headphones on hand, since some events require connecting virtually for the full experience. Pack a portable charger if you plan to be at the fest all day. For some performances, like acrobatic extravaganza Duo, you may want to bring a lawn chair or picnic blanket for comfier seating—see WOW’s FAQ for more specific info on these shows.

Where do I park at Without Walls Festival 2024?

You’ll find plenty of parking structures on UCSD’s campus. The Gilman and South structures are closest to the festival’s venues. Parking passes for the duration of the festival cost $8.40 to $12.40 per day, depending on showtimes.

Save on parking fees (and go the more sustainable route) by taking the Blue Line trolley, which stops just steps from the Epstein Family Amphitheater.

What are the food and drink options at Without Walls Festival 2024?

UC San Diego’s campus dining options will be open during the festival, which means attendees will find themselves spoiled for choice. Grab a bite at more than 15 nearby eateries, including San Diego institutions like Rubio’s and Dirty Birds.

The post La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls Festival 2024 Guide appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

Last night I attended La Jolla Playhouse’s ACCOMPLICE: SAN DIEGO, part of their Without Walls series. It was the most unique theater experience I’ve ever had.

There were about 12 audience members total. A few days prior, each of us had been phoned by an actor—in character—from a blocked number, telling us where and when to meet.

An actor found us at the appointed time on a corner in Little Italy and the journey began. I won’t give away the locations or the plot, but basically it followed an ex-criminal in hiding who needed our help connecting with other ex-cons.

Actors were planted throughout Little Italy—on the streets but also in businesses and restaurants. The acting was really good—more than once, I couldn’t tell who was in the play and who was just a man on the street. It was interesting how the lines between reality and fiction blurred.

There were times Accomplice was more of a scavenger hunt than a play. The actors would give the audience clues and an assignment and then we would essentially exit the performance. Suddenly, we were part of the play!

I went with a friend and that might have been distracting because we weren’t always 100 percent engaged in the action. But several of us had clues or props to hold—or a line to read—and we did participate most of the time.

It was cool to see a few restaurants’ secret nooks and private patios I’d never noticed before. It was good exposure for the businesses, too. (The play was interesting on so many levels…as a business model, marketing strategy…) Appetizers and wine/beer were also offered along the way and were certainly welcome with this critic.

Another cool perk of Accomplice: the exercise. Normally when you plan to see a play or musical, you sit all day at your office desk, and then you sit in your car and drive to the theater where you sit for two to three hours more. But hey, it’s really true that physical inactivity is the number one cause of health problems—more so than cigarettes or sleep loss—so this type of theater falls right in line with the needs of the day. (Dork that I am, I set the pedometer on my iPhone and found that during the course of the show I walked about 4,000 of the recommended 10,000 steps a day. Not bad! Thanks, Accomplice.)

Round of applause!

See the show in Little Italy. For more info, click here.

A Review of Accomplice: San Diego

The post A Review of Accomplice: San Diego appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

For those of you who might think Pygmalion is a stuffy, 100-year-old PLAY written by George Bernard Shaw, well, stop rolling your eyes and start rolling your “R”s. I was rrreally amazed at this show. Pygmalion had me laughing in my seat. So many zingers, such great delivery—it felt like I was listening to modern-day dialogue, and I was told that the language was not modernized.

Unfortunately for Pygmalion, it seems it’s known mostly for having inspired that other show—My Fair Lady—which it did, but the play’s significance reaches beyond Audrey Hepburn. If you don’t know the plot: Professor of speech Henry Higgins (played by Robert Sean Leonard) bets his pal Colonel Pickering (Paxton Whitehead) he can turn a flower seller into a lady, and pass her off at a high-society gala. Real-life Brit Charlotte Parry plays Eliza Doolittle to brilliant effect, and Don Sparks makes Mr. Doolittle the most lovable scoundrel (owww!). The sets and costumes, designed by Alexander Dodge and Robert Morgan respectively, transport you back a century—and, in our current age of spare sets and digital screens, they’re refreshingly complex and detailed. I say! Gohh see this play to-day.

Charlotte Parry as Eliza Doolittle and Robert Sean Leonard as Henry Higgins

Henry DiRocco

The post Last Chance to see Pygmalion appeared first on San Diego Magazine.