Work
Rebozo
Maker Candle House · Work date 2019-12 · Medium telephone · Role work
Description
Couples counselling, in three separate conversations across two days. The participant is cast as a Connector, hearing Cooper and Luisa apart on the subject of their daughter Rachel before counselling them together; domestic violence and trauma surface between the calls. Performed by Harrison O'Callaghan and Sar Cohen.
Source. https://candlehouse.org
Part of Candle House's Under the Bed, a select-your-own-experience menu of remote one-to-one encounters reviewed in December 2019. Participants who booked four or more connections also received a call from the Operator, a host who framed the stories and remembered what the participant had already been through — cross-call memory, three years before the field noticed it. Restaged at the Overlook Film Festival in April 2026, where Charming Stranger was a sponsor; the compiler did not experience that run.
Anatomy
Thirteen criteria after Lauren R. Beck. Each carries a source grade: M maker-confirmed, P published, F first-hand, I inferred by the compiler, ? not yet established. Definitions are on the anatomy page.
- Participants listen through headphonesnoP
"All you need is your mobile phone" — a handset, with no headphone requirement.
- Participants move through space as part of the worknoI
A series of phone calls with no instruction to change location.
- Audio technology is necessaryyesP
"performed live for one person via a series of phone calls."
- Site-, situation- or language-specificunknown?
"Available worldwide" argues against a site or situation requirement, but the untranslated Spanish framing leaves a possible Language requirement unresolved.
Did you experience this? Tell us - Engages with the history of a sitenoI
A fictional counselling service and love story; no specific real place or documented events.
- Created for an urban environmentnoI
Available worldwide by phone; nothing requires urban surroundings.
- Created as an artwork other than theaternoI
Framed as an interactive love story performed live by a theater company; no other discipline named.
- Intended to be understood as theateryesP
"performed live," presented by American Immersion Theater, participants cast as volunteer counselors.
- Accidental real-world sights and sounds are importantunknown?
The listing does not address the participant's surroundings.
Did you experience this? Tell us - Spectator must participateyesP
The participant counsels the couple. The work is the counselling.
- Has live performers other than the participantsyesP
Two live performers across three calls.
- Involves game playnoI
Choice-driven narrative with no objective or resolution state.
- Uses props other than the listening devicenoP
The listing states "All you need is your mobile phone," positively excluding other materials.
2 of thirteen are still unknown for this work. If you experienced it, you can settle them in a minute.