About Anthem

Fort Ontario (2014)

In October 2014, Third Rail Projects traveled to SUNY Oswego in Oswego, NY for a creative residency and educational tour. On site, Third Rail Projects Co-Artistic Director Tom Pearson taught and presented to classes in the Oswego Performing Arts Department, and together with Zach Morris and four company members, created a new site-specific performance for the historic Fort Ontario, entitled Anthem, offered free to the community over four performances . With open rehearsal periods and two RSVP showings, Third Rail Projects engaged approximately 350 audiences over the course of five days, bringing their unique vision of immersive, experiential performance to a brand new community.

Descending into the winding stone corridors that ring the historic property, the creative team envisioned evening performances in which audience members were guided from place to place, above and below ground. Anthem, cinematic in scope,  invited unusually close interaction between the artists and audience. Normal theatrical distances were eclipsed, and audiences were enveloped within the creative experience which echoes the ghosts of soldiers and visitors, time waiting and passing.