Thiago Nascimento, LightWare Labs and Kessler create immersive art

Dallas nightlife seems to be getting more and more theatrical. With Poppy Xanders’ rock opera “Helium Queens” premiering a few years ago and Tim DeLaughter’s new dome theater experience “Atmosphere,” there’s a trend in North Texas toward more immersive events. As more local musicians hone their visual skills, classical and jazz pianist Thiago Nascimento decided to throw his hat – or rather, his military helmet – into the ring.

Premiere at the Kessler Theater on August 22nd. Requiem for the Troposphere was announced as an immersive 3D multimedia collaboration between Nascimento and Dallas-based projection team LightWare Labs. The show began in a dark room with Thiago wearing all-black military gear, including a helmet, mask, MOLLE vest, and backpack.

His character was simply called “The Traveler.” He slowly made his way to a piano on the stage and sat down. As he began to play, visuals lit up three of the four Kessler walls. The solo performance was largely improvised, as Thiago played along to a series of environmentally themed videos. The piece told the story of the last person on Earth playing the last piece of music ever heard. It was implied that humanity, now in its post-apocalyptic final moments, met its demise through climate change and environmental disasters.

This show, which leaned heavily on classical, ambient and jazz, demanded the audience’s full attention. The hour-long performance had no breaks, just ebb and flow, getting stronger and weaker, peppered with scale runs and occasional dissonances to emphasize the seriousness of the subject matter. It was a sort of “what if Brian Eno collaborated with Mozart” moment. Casual listeners struggled to follow the moment, but other viewers were clearly transfixed.

Since it was the first public performance, it was more of a proof of concept than a finished product. There’s still room for improvement, as some of the visuals seemed drab while others were magnetic. And as perfect as The Kessler may be, this show really needs a bigger stage. (If it ever comes to the Wyly or The Winspear, watch out.)

The real beauty of the show was the improvisation, meaning that each performance offers slightly different melancholy interpretations of the same theme. Hopefully this was just the first time the audience got to experience “the last” performance, because with each brand new finale it is sure to get more exciting.