Beyond Screens: Big Games – Presented by Come Out and Play, with guests Jessica Creane and Dalton Grey

All work and no play makes us all dull. But how do you play during a pandemic? Greg Trefry and Debra Everett-Lane, organizers of the Come Out & Play Festival, launch the first episode of Big Games by discussing how play has become more important than ever, and how the way we play has changed to meet the moment. Guests Jessica Creane (maker of plays) and Dalton Gray (co-founder of The Adventure Society) join us.

Dalton Gray is a game designer and entrepreneur with experience in game design, game and event production, creative development, as well as session facilitation and curriculum design for a variety of audiences

Dalton leads the Adventure Society (AdventureSocietyNYC.com), an award winning collective that explores the intersection of games and live performance. AS has presented work at IndieCade East, the Pan-Am Games, BitBash Chicago, Maker Faire NYC, and the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival.

As a program director and game designer at Games for Change, Dalton creates and facilitates playful experiences that celebrate, elevate, and disseminate social impact game design.

https://www.adventuresocietynyc.com
https://www.instagram.com/adventuresocietynyc/

Jessica Creane is an interactive experience designer exploring complex brain stuff through play. She is the founder of IKantKoan Play/s and is a Professor of Game Design at Drexel University and CUNY City Tech. She makes change games with The National Parks Service, is a 2021 Arctic Circle Artist-in-Residence, and recently gave a TEDx talk about embracing uncertainty through play. Her work has been presented at The World Economic Forum, IndieCade, Tanween Creativity Festival, HERE Arts, BostonFIG, and on KQED San Fransisco. Her NY Times recommended playable theater show, CHAOS THEORY, recently won the Best Social Immersion Award from Immersion Nation.

http://ikantkoan.com/
https://https://twitter.com/IKantKoan
https://www.instagram.com/ikantkoan/

IndieCade’s Twitch show exploring work that pushes the boundaries of, or comes entirely off the screen. Genres covered will include participatory theatre, alternate reality and live action roleplaying; escape rooms; Big Games; and alternative controllers. Each hour-long episode will feature an in-depth conversation with creators of these genre-defining games.

Airing noon Pacific on Wednesdays, weekly shows will be co-hosted by organizations and creators in monthly rotation as follows:

• First Wednesday – Playable Theatre – Hosted by the Playable Theatre Project
• Second Wednesday – Escape Rooms – Presented by Room Escape Artists
• Third Wednesday – Big Games – Presented by Come Out and Play
• Fourth Wednesday – Alternative Controllers –  with Tatiana Vilela dos Santos and Alistair Aitcheson