Midnight Madness
“This year they pushed to new artistic heights by teaming up with a dance theatre group called Third Rail Projects and building the entire night around a central theme heavy in performance art.”
– Mashable
Midnight Madness 2015 was Wall Street’s most elaborate charity event, raising 3.1 million dollars for Good Shepherd Services and supporting the construction of a state-of-the-art community center in East New York. With a theatrical component incorporated into the event, multiple immersive scenes played out all over New York City as part of an all-night scavenger hunt that spanned 20 hours from beginning to end.
Inspired by the life of Audrey Munson, the most celebrated artists’ model of the Beaux-Arts period, the theatrical aspect of the evening unfolded as characters from 1918 appeared out of nowhere, launching into a dance on the steps of the U.S. Customs House and sweeping players into Battery Park for a story along the river.
Discovering prominent events from Munson’s life hidden in secret locations, players became a part of her life story, sketching the famous model in an artist’s studio, watching her fall in and out of love, dancing with her at a ball, and witnessing her career come to a sorrowful end as she moved from the city to an upstate asylum, where she remained for the last 60 years of her life.
With their sketches in hand, along with coins bearing her likeness and bouquets of her favorite roses, players ultimately came face to face with Audrey Munson herself and presented these puzzle pieces of her life to discover the location of the finish line.
Full description and credits: thirdrailprojects.com
Feature: Midnight Madness: The Scavenger Hunt Luring Wall Street | Bloomberg News
Photographs by Rachel Elkind and Travis McGee