Review | The Industry’s HOPSCOTCH is a Nightmare on Wheels / CRAVE

All HOPSCOTCH photos courtesy of Alicia Eler

Hopscotch, a “mobile opera” experience, feels like the tech-induced insanity that one imagines is life as a Silicon Valley mobile tech bro jacked up on a crazy amount of apps, chats, emails, and constant “ping” sounds, giving him no choice but to spiral into a tunnel of psychological disassociation and physical distancing from any human contact.

Created and produced by the LA-based company The Industry — not to be confused with the entertainment industry, which is often-times referred to as just “the industry” — Hopscotch takes audience members on a literal ride in many different limousines, on-foot through parks and warehouses and other places located on L.A.’s East Side. There are three different routes that make-up the one longer narrative story that is Hopscotch, but unless you have a lot of free time on your hands you’ll only journey on one of those three routes, which are color-coded as either green, red or yellow, together completing all the colors of a traffic light.

In addition to the driving around and getting in-and-out at various locations, The Industry adds another element to this fragmented experience: mobile phones. The performance is always either being video-taped live by smartphones positioned inside the cars, or by audience members who are given smartphones in order to record the scenes, many of which take place while moving on-foot.