Newcity Stage

Theater, Dance, Comedy and Performance in Chicago

“Theater of the Mind” Is an Interactive Trip Through a Memory Palace David Byrne and Mala Goankar's show explores the science of perception, taking audience members through experiments involving sight, vision and taste, while telling a story of a life from its end to the beginning.

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by Mary Wisniewski
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A group of people sit on chairs in a room bathed in intense red light; one person in the foreground holds up a smartphone, seemingly taking a photo or recording.

David Byrne and Mala Goankar’s “Theater of the Mind”/Photo: Todd Rosenberg

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While in college, I had an apartment in a drafty, insect-infested building rumored to be a former convent. One night, my roommates and I had a party. I was in an altered state—it was the late eighties in Carbondale. Suddenly, I saw a young nun in full habit skimming across our ceiling. She vanished into a corner.

I had forgotten about this until I experienced “Theater of the Mind,” an interactive production created by polymath artist David Byrne and his wife, writer Mala Goankar. The memory came back while sitting with my fellow audience members in a dark chamber, when an actor asked us, “Have you ever had an hallucination?”

I told about my nun. Then the actor, James Earl Jones II, led us through experiments that, without giving too much away, made us see things that weren’t there, and then not see things that were there.

The phenomenon involves receptor cells in the retina, and there’s a scientific reason for what happened. But the contrast of this event to my Carbondale vision made me think about the different forces—like drugs or illness or cultural prejudice—that affect how you see. How had I seen the nun? Had there been a nun? Does it matter?

If you’re interested in those types of questions—about the difference between reality and illusion and the science behind your perceptions, you’ll probably get a kick out of “Theater of the Mind,” playing in a 15,000-square-foot space at 333 N0rth LaSalle. It’s incredibly popular, with some shows sold out, and has been extended through July 12.

If you’re not interested in these types of questions, or if you’d prefer exploring them in a different format than paying $69-plus for a series of science games with strangers, this may not be for you. No judgment.

Three people stand smiling under disco lights in a dark room, with light patterns and reflections creating a lively atmosphere. A fourth person is blurred in the background near a keyboard.

David Byrne and Mala Goankar’s “Theater of the Mind”/Photo: Todd Rosenberg

Byrne and Goankar created the show because of their interest in the science of perception. It had its first run in Denver, Colorado. Directed by Andrew Scoville, each seventy-five-minute production takes up to sixteen audience members at a time through a succession of spaces. An actor called “David” leads the audience in experiments involving sight, vision and taste, while telling a story of a life from its end to the beginning. The story contains elements of Byrne’s own life, and the actor is dressed in a suit with a bowtie as Byrne did in a childhood photograph.

The show begins with each audience member choosing a name out of a doll’s house—I was “Emma.” We were all David’s friends, attending his funeral. David crawls out of his coffin and tells us we are going on a trip through his “memory palace.”

Throughout the show, we learn details of David’s life and illusions, while we reflect on our own. Jones was an excellent guide, improvising when necessary to move the story along. Other Chicago actors who play “David” in other shows are Elizabeth Laidlaw, Shariba Rivers, Helen Joo Lee, Em Modaff, Victor Musoni, Aj Paramo, Kelli Simpkins, Lucky Stiff and Emily Zhang (understudy).

Sometimes the show felt profound and sometimes like a carnival funhouse, amusing but mundane. At times, David’s story was like listening to another person’s dream—diverting, but not always easy to follow.

A couple illusions didn’t come off—during our show, virtual reality headsets used in one scenario malfunctioned and we didn’t hear the monologue. There’s also a version of “David” that consists of a doll with a voicebox, a trick that doesn’t work well on someone past the age of eight.

Despite these issues, the show left me both disoriented and thoughtful. On my bike ride home, I listened to “Speaking in Tongues,” a 1983 Talking Heads album. “Making Flippy Floppy”‘s odd song lyrics, like “We sing in the darkness/And open our eyes (Open up)” and “help us lose our minds,” made more sense than usual. These are thoughts about reality that Byrne has been exploring for his whole career—“Theater of the Mind” is just a new, three-dimensional vision of his art. Again, it may not be for everybody. But overall, I found the show a joyful exploration of how we think about life, and how we can always change the story, if we want.

“Theater of the Mind,” presented by the Goodman Theatre, is on stage at the Reid Murdoch building, 333 North LaSalle, through July 12, 2026. Tickets available here.