Recent Projects
Doppelgänger: an immersive love story
Director/Head Writer, Space Designer
Amazing execution. But it wasn’t good because it was well-executed. It was good because it was like I had a dream, and woke up, and realized that I couldn’t communicate why it was so powerful, and realized that everyone else had had this dream too, and it had been just as important to them. It communicated with me in ways I thought were private, and it took me a while to figure out that they were intentional. It did things that I still don’t know how to talk about. I didn’t know theater could do that.
– Audience Response
Five performers played out their story in multiple rooms of an apartment, simultaneously, with each character’s story rising and falling in action like a protagonist's, for an audience who could freely choose where to roam and what to watch at any given moment. Some rooms looked like Sarah and Lauren’s shared apartment; others felt like portals into Sarah and Lauren’s inner worlds, so that audience felt as if they were inside the characters’ memories, desires, and fears. The action which happened in each room influenced, and was influenced by, what was happening simultaneously in other rooms. I paid close attention to the performance and space design elements which would subtly cue the kinds of curiosities the show rewarded.
Two by Two
Director, Space Designer
It was very… I felt like… I felt like I could have started bawling. It was very comforting, but also hard. That warmth is something I seek and want, and to access it is very difficult. The gifts from each character were very powerful.
– Audience Response
This was a bespoke piece of immersive theater tailored to the brain of exactly one audience member. As preparation for the show, I conducted interviews with the audience member and her close friends. I also worked closely with composer David Earl to create a soundscape that was personally meaningful to the audience member. The final work of art was an twelve-hour-long interactive show which wove itself into her day.
When I Left the House it was Still Dark
Production Support (Mission Control) for Odyssey Works
Your tireless work on the production was absolutely invaluable: so competent, thorough, and even-keeled. Everyone felt it.
– Abe Burickson, Artistic Director
Odyssey Works is a collective of artists who make "shows" tailored to an audience of one, which start from the smallest (engineered) coincidences in the participant's daily life: "We get to know you as well as possible and then we commission artists to craft a series of experiences designed to be the most profound artistic moments you've ever lived. Books are written, scores are composed, films made, installations installed, theatrical moments created - whatever the group determines would be most affecting. The results are transformative, traversing the boundary between reality and performance."
For this show, I researched and/or site scouted scene locations across two states and internationally, and coordinated the movement of approximately 60 crew, artists, and members of the public, as well as ten key objects, throughout two states, using five modes of transportation, building in buffers and alternate routes for unpredictable weather or traffic conditions, in the final 48 hours of a performance in which the art was continuous.
For this show, I researched and/or site scouted scene locations across two states and internationally, and coordinated the movement of approximately 60 crew, artists, and members of the public, as well as ten key objects, throughout two states, using five modes of transportation, building in buffers and alternate routes for unpredictable weather or traffic conditions, in the final 48 hours of a performance in which the art was continuous.
Private Event: Leap Day Observance
Director/Adaptor, Space Designer
Me and the other audience members were all agog by what we’d experienced.
– Audience Response
I adapted popular young adult novel to a seven space immersive environment (an apartment and surroundings) populated by ten performers for an audience who was free to roam. I incorporated video effects to condense the need for exposition and worked with a recipe developer to create a taste illusion faithful to that in the novel.
Missing: the fantastical and true story of my father's disappearance and what I found when I looked for him
Playwright/Choreographer, Performer
Finely realized physical performance…mesmerizing. Five stars.
– Twin Cities Daily Planet
Stunning. I went home heartbroken and uplifted.
– Audience Response
This absorbing mystery keeps surprising the audience right up to the end. Ferris’ work uses true dramatic imagery–physical movement, transformed props, projected images over movement–that turn her script into condensed and intense theater. Her performance is impeccable and moving. I will think about this piece for weeks.
– Audience Response
This was a magical-realism autobiographical solo show. I designed a set which would tour easily and built it with elements which transformed into characters. I collaborated with director David Ford and composer Mark Orton of Tin Hat who composed an original score.
New Works Incubator
Founding Member
What I love about working with Jessica is that she helps inform my own understanding of my own work. She points out connections between concepts that I wasn't consciously aware of, and she can see arcs that I didn't realize were there. I'm constantly amazed at how right her intuition is. Her insights are startling in their perceptiveness. They pierce to the heart of the matter. She brings a brilliant, nimble mind with a unique lens, as well as a generous heart, and total dedication to the success of every project.
–Incubator Participant
I've been meeting with a small group for fourteen years to develop new work.