ASMRtist

About the Production:

Welcome to ASMRland! You’re about to be transported into your own head. Don’t worry, you’ll have Tingle Bell and Trigger Bell to guide your journey, they’ll keep you safe – or will they?

Bell Angele has a simple quest: to fall asleep peacefully. But before she can, two fairies from ASMRland are here to reveal and repair the dark corners of her brain. ASMRtist uses ASMR to bring audiences together to explore the stimuli that make our skin tingle and our minds race.

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Alma Matters Productions was the 2017 University of Toronto’s recipient for the Drama Alumni Show Project. ASMRtist combines performance, sound, and video to explore the theatre as a space for sensory transformation. The show premiered in September 2017 at the Helen Gardiner Phelan Playhouse and was featured on CBC’s Here and Now. 

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Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a pleasant tingling sensation felt within the body that is evoked through soothing sound and touch. It has gained popularity on YouTube where video artists (called ASMRtists) amass large followings by using their videos to ease anxiety and insomnia. Due to its subversive nature, ASMR videos are often labelled as bizarre, suspicious, and uncomfortable by those who have not fully experienced it. This production explores ASMR in a public setting to present the sensation as an accessible means of calming our constantly overworked brains.​​​​​​