The Stupidest Scariest Time, by Swim Pony


The Stupidest Scariest Time calls itself, “a new work of interactive theater parodying the joyless productivity of modern life.” It is that. And it’s more than that. I found a heart in it.

The show is both beyond immersive and somehow also prior to it. If you have ever been to an office retreat, a Landmark Forum session, an Amway meeting, or seen a Tony Robbins talk – or done all of those things, as I have, you will know exactly what is going on from the very start, when you are directed to your seat.
I found myself at a table with a neat, professional-looking folder in front of me. A branded pen was next to it. A bowl of branded stress balls was in the center of the table. I looked at the table-mate across from me and said, “I feel like I’m at a staff retreat.” “I just came from a conference this morning,” they said. We smiled.
I won’t say too much about the content but there are timed exercises where you write your life goals and prioritize them. There is “you can do it!” -style cheerleading. There is a kind of cringey pseudo-spirituality woven throughout centered on a little fish (is the fish me?) going on a journey. It’s led by four rah-rah facilitators with all the answers. All total parody.
At the same time, one of the corny exercises – it’s about how you value your time – hits home. Wait, is this actually helping me? The guided sharing coaxed from the rest of the audience – if you can still call them that, they become more like fellow participants at some point – has been about real life stuff and starts to accumulate. These absurd self-help set-pieces begin to look like they have a point.
After all of that, when at least one of the facilitators started to look like maybe they don’t have it all together, I began to think there was something more than parody going on. Inside this comical, at times Monty Python-esque seminar, The Stupidest Scariest Time might be a show about a group of people wanting to make a better world for the participants and for themselves but maybe not really knowing how.
That seems relevant, maybe especially now.

Photo by me of the corporate logo t-shirt I bought at the show.

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