Pa:nStori is Developing New York’s Newest Immersive Experience

In April, one of New York City’s newest avant-garde production companies, Pa:nStori Productions, launched At Your Scent, a new individualized immersive theater experience that uses scents to guide viewers through its narrative. Audience members, one at a time and blindfolded, were invited to experience a love story between two city dwellers performed by two actors. In Korean, pan (판) means a place or setup where something unfolds. Still in production, the piece serves as a fresh stage for new experiential theater, and feedback after the next test-run in July will help influence the format for its upcoming open run in September.

In a conversation with Pa:nStori Productions’ founder, Soo Young Choi, she talked about what it takes to produce non-traditional live shows in the city and our most powerful sense, smell.

With several large closures over the past couple of years, there is room for more site-specific or immersive theater in New York. Punchdrunk’s highly popular Viola’s Room will come to The Shed in June, for instance. The New York public needs additions; a gap that At Your Scent might be able to fill. The olfactory element is fresh and ground-breaking. The individualized setup brings me to a dinner experience, where intimacy and smells meet. Can you speak more about how you and the Pa:nStori team came to making smells a main character in the production?

SYC: Our director, Chaesong, and I share a deep love for perfume and the exploration of scent. I always believed that olfactory sensory is the most powerful sense of all, as it is linked to our memory and imagination. When you smell a specific scent, you can suddenly travel back to your childhood or to a very random memory that you didn’t even know existed in your mind. With this in mind, we wanted to create a show centered around scent, which led to At Your Scent.

It won’t be a large-scale, choose-your-own-adventure type of performance, but rather a more intimate, choose-your-own-imagination experience, allowing for a deeper personal connection. Since the format of the piece is very different from traditional performances, I am still struggling to find the right sustainable approach. But it will come to us as we go through all the stages.

You have worked with Chaesong Kim before, at NYU. How did this new collaboration come about, and how did you, as Pa:nStori’s founder, work with her as the director of At Your Scent? 

SYC: When I was in NYU’s MA program, I was organizing a reading performance with my cohorts. We were looking for a director, and someone introduced me to Chaesong, who just completed an MFA at Columbia University. Chaesong is someone who approaches both people and work with heart. She is also a very talented director who creates powerful scenes even in a very difficult environment. We share similar values around collaboration and push each other to grow. That is why we are working together on At Your Scent and both challenging each other and enjoying it at the same time.

Cool. What are the ingredients of a good production company, and who do you admire in the field?

SYC: Having the right people who share the same passion is the most important ingredient. There should also be great ideas, a business model, and funding. But, the right people are number one. This is a different field, but the movie The Lord of the Rings was created with people who were huge fans of the book. They even got volunteers from the town where they were shooting the film, which made it possible to create one of the great battle scenes in the movie. When there are people with the same passion together, I think we can create something phenomenal.

How have you built your team and business at Pa:nStori?

SYC: Since Pa:nStori Productions is a new startup, I am keeping the team tiny but mighty. I asked friends from NYU who are interested in this field first, and ended up working with people whom I could trust.

We are using the term “immersive theater” just because it is a well-known term and helps people understand the concept quickly. But the term itself has too many different meanings. It can also mean Sleep No More type of the show, it can also mean VR, XR, or any type of media arts, or like Drunk Shakespeare. But what Pa:nStori is aiming for is an intimate experiential show. To achieve that, we are open to exploring various genres and media.

Are there ways entrepreneurs or business owners can support theater in new ways, or ways the industries can learn from each other?

SYC: I think the most challenging part of creating this new type of art is the location. Finding the right place at an affordable price is almost impossible, especially in NYC. I think it would be great if there were a platform where creators can find location sponsorships or where we can find information about unused or empty spaces that are non-traditional theater spaces.

There is a platform called No Proscenium, specializes in immersive theater. They share reviews, news, and podcasts on this field. Also, the Immersive Experience Institute holds The Next Stage Summit events every year in Los Angeles. This event is like a conference of immersive theater where industry people gather and have workshops, talks, and discussions. I am also planning to attend this August and am excited to meet people in the same industry. I feel like New York also needs to have this type of gathering more!

You have more than seven years of experience working with leading production companies and avant-garde productions in Korea. Perhaps most relevant to your mission with Pa:nStori is your work with ArtLab Festival in Incheon, where you supported ten artists in developing original works that merged art with other industries. What are some experiences that have inspired you from this work? Or an anecdote?

SYC: Before the Art Lab Festival, my career was focused on musical theater productions, so it was a very refreshing and mind-blowing experience. The festival is organized by Paradise Cultural Foundation every year, and the mission of the foundation is to find and support emerging artists who are pioneers in the art and tech field. I met artists who are trying to create a new type of art in innovative ways. There were bio-, AV-, media-, kinetic-, and other artists. They were all delving into new technologies and transforming them into art pieces. I, who only knew traditional theater, was impressed and realized that this is the new path I should follow.

Do you think New York and Korean audiences differ? If so, how?

SYC: I think they’re pretty similar. But I feel like New York audiences are a bit more open-minded. Since NY is where so many more different cultures are blended than Korea, the audience here comes from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. This diversity can make it more challenging to satisfy NY audiences, but it also makes them more willing to experience new things.

What drew you to theater, and what made you stay?

SYC: I got into the theater industry by chance, but it captivated me very shortly. No job can be done by one person, but theater, especially, cannot be done alone. It is an interdisciplinary art form where people from various fields cooperate to create a single piece of art. That is why it is hard and challenging, but the achievement and reward are also worth it. I think I was fascinated by the camaraderie I felt in this industry, which has kept me going.

Finally, what are you reading, seeing, and eating right now?

SYC: I am reading Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee. I was very impressed by Lee while I was watching the Netflix show, Culinary Class, so I wanted to know more about him. These days, I am watching the NBA playoffs, and feeling like pasta today.

At Your Scent will host a second test-run in July and a pop-up in August, leading to its open run.

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