Photo by Edward Mylechreest
Basic Principles of Incantation is a performance-based interactive theatre game about Linguistics and Magic. Players take on the role of students of the Esoteric Arts at their first lesson conducted, by Professor A. Sibly.
Players wrangle with tricky phonetics, solve puzzles about magical morphology, and finally have to break a curse on their professor, using their wits, their listening skills, and their linguistic abilities, with the help of a textbook written for the game. Using actors and sound-based special effects, the environment was reactive to the players' magical spells.
Basic Principles of Incantation was most recently mounted by Sinking Ship Creations at the Greenwich House School of Music in Manhattan.
It was was first exhibited at Game Night #5 at the Denny Gallery in Manhattan, New York, curated by Sheetal Prajapati and Anna Harsanyi.Learn more about Game Night.
Press
Getting All Magicked up in 'Basic Principles of Incantation' (No Proscenium)
Theories of magic, as explained in the textbook created for the game.
The technique of magic, according to authors Max Seidman and Sharang Biswas.
Rebecca Drapkin, playing Dr. Valorie Moltres, provided live sound effects and music for the experience.
Students attempting to wake up Professor Sibly, who's trapped in an enchanted slumber.
Students attempting to puzzle out a particularly challenging spell.
Full Credits:
Game Design by Sharang Biswas and Max Seidman
Sound Design by Rebecca Drapkin
Logo Design by Angela Zhang
Layout by Max Seidman
First Performance by Sharang Biswas and Rebecca Drapkin
Special Thanks to Sheetal Prajapati, Anna Harsanyi and all our playtesters