Party City

Photo of James Bond party by Giafrese

The staff of the McKittrick Hotel has an ever-changing chameleon of a place on its hands. The hotel, located in the west part of Chelsea in New York City, houses the Emursive/Punchdrunk immersive theatre experience Sleep No More, but there’s more. Two restaurants are on site, the Gallow Green rooftop bar by summer that becomes The Lodge at Gallow Green in the winter months, and the indoor Heath restaurant, a standalone music venue-bar, plus the ever-evolving Manderley Bar that serves as the entrance to the hotel and the Sleep No More experience (Live Design, March 2013). Apparently, though, that’s just not enough.

The McKittrick Hotel is now home to a monthly theatrical nightlife extravaganza that reinvents itself and its venue every month. Described as “an all-new way to experience nightlife through a cinematic lens,” Supercinema, brainchild of “special envoy” Cesar Hawas, is an elaborate, one-of-a-kind dance party for people looking for a “really fun night out, to dress up in a costume, and get lost in the whimsy and the spectacle of the experience,” he says.

Hawas is “responsible for the experience that people have in relationship to, and while they are in, the building,” through a variety of special events and marketing roles. He says it is crucial that, no matter what the event, the McKittrick “remains this menagerie of curiosities.” He sees the teams of designers, technicians, and performers inside the multi-level complex as operating with that “old-school show folk vibe,” so everything that happens in the hotel feels like a performance.

Photo of James Bond party by Giafrese

For quite some time, the parties held at the McKittrick were sporadic events tied to a holiday or theme. Masquerade balls and New Year’s extravaganzas took over the home of Sleep No More to the awe and wonder of partying crowds. “We’ve had, for years, our Sleep No More parties where we take over multiple floors of the building immediately after the performance, but it only ever made sense to peg them to a holiday,” says Hawas. “We wanted to try to find something to activate the space that is separate from Sleep No More and allowed us to engage the same internal team.” Hawas was planning a dance party that would appeal to a broader audience while still using props, set pieces, lighting, and video to create a theatrical event. He wanted to use the “same level of detail, while embracing the nightlife using theatrical elements.”

To that end, Hawas and his team sought to create a “theatrically-based, narrative-driven nightlife experience,” a cinematic world “that, on its most basic level, we can get really excited about and that also you can contextualize and make sense of for the audience” so that the party-goers feel like they are entering the world of the specific film. Hawas’ team looked for a specific movie or a genre of movies that people can easily reference, unlike the Sleep No More immersive theatrical experience, which “is more eclectic and focused” and perhaps less accessible to a party-going audience.

A New Nightlife Experience

Photo of Romeo + Juliet party by Giafrese

Each month, the Supercinema party takes on a new identity, the first of which was a Valentine’s Day party, inspired by Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. According to Hawas, the theme and the party were clearly a “match made in heaven, a star-crossed match.” The movie and its aesthetic “set itself up for a party,” he adds. Guests to each Supercinema are required to come in costume tied to the theme (although Hawas explains that there is an “all-black option” for the “stubborn” New Yorkers). After Romeo + Juliet, the second Supercinema was an ode to the world of 007 James Bond, another visually evocative pop culture phenomenon.

“At its core,” says Hawas, “this is a dance party, and the audience comes charged with energy.” His team’s goal is always to maintain balance and manage expectations. This isn’t the Sleep No More experience of letting the audience wander the hotel within its own teams, but the events are infused with theatrical moments. He describes the levels of engagement as everything “from watching a fifteen-person, ten minute spectacle in the ballroom, to having your fortune read” in a small side room.

Photo of Romeo + Juliet party by Loren Wohl/Giafrese

Hawas and his team love engaging the larger spaces throughout the hotel, but they use different parts of the space, depending on the party. “You could stumble upon a room or closet where, boom, there is a happening or a one-on-one experience.” They use as much of the building as possible. Some of those big theatrical moments include audience members as performers, so there are even “casting sessions” throughout the night. Performers, some from Sleep No More and some new for Supercinema, are scattered throughout the building. It is important that the parties have the same “whirlwind fever dream experience of Sleep No More; we want people to have that same type of experience at Supercinema.”

Learn more about the lighting, staging, and sound for Sleep No More.

The same internal creative team that does other events and maintains Sleep No More fleshed out the details of Supercinema. “We live strongly in the world of theatre,” Hawas explains, adding that they approach every event the same way. “How do theatre people open up a restaurant or a rooftop bar, throw a party?” They do it by being quick-thinkers; creative and flexible, he adds. “Prop masters by day are party makers by night.” The team has to put as much of the equipment for the party into place before the Sleep No More performance even starts because the Supercinema party starts just moments after the climactic final scene. Sometimes that means installing an entirely different lighting rig, and sometimes it means prepping the curtains or projections systems. Some spaces require a full deconstruction and reconstruction in as little as 25 minutes. Hawas explains that they do it all with “a small army of people that get triggered the moment Sleep No More is over; I can’t speak highly enough of the skilled craftsmen, designers, and engineers that work in this building.”

Photo of James Bond party by Giafrese

Hawas and his team don’t want the audience to recognize the spaces from Sleep No More. “We don’t want anyone to come to a Supercinema party and say, ‘Oh, I just saw Sleep No More here.’” So, how do you take the spaces of Sleep No More and suddenly find yourself in Goldfinger’s Lounge? “For anyone who has an awareness of putting on a show, the challenges become very obvious,” says Hawas. “We use the literal smoke and mirrors and magic of theatre.” And they do it very, very quickly. The Supercinema team uses projections, black lights, and laser installations that are unique to these parties to help create new spaces inside of the already highly designed ones. They install black curtains and masking, where appropriate.

Hawas explains that the goal is “to use the existing infrastructure to support a different aesthetic.” And for some of the spaces, his team is trying to completely reframe the experience. “How do you make the Manderley find its context within the Bond or Romeo + Juliet experience?” Sometimes, of course, equipment is supplemented for the parties. In otherwise completely dark rooms, images are projected onto the performers. Misdirection and “old-school theatrical techniques” transform one space into another. Breaking the taboo of discussing the history of the block that houses the McKittrick, Hawas explains the “ghosts of Twilo and B.E.D. [NYC nightclubs from the 1990s] are ever present.” The plan is for Supercinema to be a monthly event at the McKittrick.

Gear And Credits

Photo of Romeo + Juliet party by Giafrese

Select Gear

Ballroom Lighting

  • 16 Harman Martin Professional MAC Aura
  • 16 Harman Martin Professional Rush MH3 Beam
  • 14 Harman Martin Professional MAC Quantum Profile
  • 6 Harman Martin Professional Rush PAR 1 RGBW
  • 4 Harman Martin Professional MAC Atomic 3000 LED Strobe
  • 2 CITC Super Shot Max Confetti Cannon
  • 1 Harman Martin Professional M1 Console
  • RGB LED Tape
  • Neon Electroluminescent Wire
  • Gantom Fixtures

Hotel Lighting

  • 1 Harman Martin Professional M2Go Console 
  • 1 ETC Source Four Mini 
  • 1 Harman Martin Professional MAC 350 Entour
  • 1 Elation Professional EPAR
  • 1 Elation Professional Impression 

Manderley Lighting

  • 1 ETC Ion Console 
  • 1 ETC Source Four Ellipsoidal
  • Altman PAR Cans 

Third Floor Effects 

Ballroom Video

  • 1 Panasonic PTDZ770 Single-Chip Projector 
  • 1 Panasonic medium zoom lens

Third Floor Video 

  • 1 BenQ MX822ST Projector 
  • 1 Epson Small Format Projector 

Ballroom Audio

Hotel Audio

  • 1 Firehouse F12
  • 1 Macrotech I-Tech
  • 1 EAW NTS250
  • 1 Behringer X32
  • 1 dbx DriveRack

Manderley Audio

Third Floor Audio

  • 1 QSC K12 
  • 1 Apple iPod 

Vendors

McKittrick Supercinema Staff

  • Production Manager, Audio Supervisor: Benjamin Wygonik
  • Lighting Designer: Evan Gannon
  • Video Designer: Bibiana Medkova
  • Lighting Supervisor: Elijah Schreiner
  • Audio System Tech: Jake Ferrante
  • Associate Sound Designer: Greg Hanson
  • Audio Coordinator: Jamie Amadruto 
  • Ballroom A1: Jonathan Kreinik
  • Ballroom A2: Yong Ho Chun
  • Hotel A1: Colleen Arnerich 
  • Hotel A2: Max Berman 
  • Manderley A1: Mike Mascarelli
  • Audio Engineer: Steven Carlino
  • Video Mixer: Caleb Olsen 
  • Master Electrician:Hess Smith
  • Electrician: Susannah Baron   
  • Electrician: Igor Yachmenov 
  • Electrician: Saul Valiunas 
  • Lighting Consultant: Devin Camerons

For more, download the April issue of Live Design for free onto your iPad or iPhone from the Apple App Store, and onto your Android smartphone and tablet from Google Play or read the interactive PDF