La Jolla Playhouse kicked off its eighth Without Walls Festival (better known as WOW) Thursday at UC San Diego, with a wildly diverse variety of mostly free entertainment for all ages that will continue through Sunday afternoon.
Headquartered in and around the university’s Price Center, Qualcomm Institute and Epstein Family Amphitheater, this year’s WOW fest features the efforts of hundreds of San Diego theater, dance, puppetry and technical artists, as well as arts companies who have traveled from New York City, Texas, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
With so much to see, it’s impossible to attend all of the events in one day, so I’m offering mini-reviews on what I was able to catch on Thursday. While transit time between show locations is much shorter this year, don’t over-schedule yourself with too many back-to-back shows like I did. There are many onsite quick-service restaurants where you can grab a meal, outdoor sculpture and beautiful buildings to explore and patios and lawns where you can take a breather.
Here’s a taste of WOW from Thursday, along with some suggestions for shows I haven’t visited yet but are getting a lot of buzz from WOW-goers.
‘Summer Break’
This half-hour, family-friendly show staged outdoors on and around a modified school bus is presented by FLIP Fabrique, a theater and acrobatic company from Québec, Canada. Built around the nostalgic theme of a day (and night) at summer camp, the show features feats of tumbling, juggling and hoop-spinning, as well as aerial strap and trampoline acrobatics. It’s light, funny and entertaining. Some of the best bits are when a water gun fight expands into the audience and the performers slingshot marshmallows into the crowd. I especially enjoyed how they created an undersea environment with soap bubbles and fake fish when a camper’s canoe overturned. shows: 5 and 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 25, at Town Square, Price Center; 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27, at Warren Mall. Free.
‘Burnout Paradise’
There are only seven shows at this year’s WOW requiring paid tickets, and this one is well worth the price. Four of Australia’s Pony Cam acrobatic and comedy troupe spend 45 minutes walking on treills as they perform a huge list of oddball tasks, including cooking and serving a three-course Italian meal, performing Hamlet’s “To Be or Not to Be” speech, writing and submitting a grant application, body waxing, picking up dog poop, assembling a piece of Ikea furniture, conducting an Easter Egg hunt and much, much more. One of the funniest bits is member Claire Bird’s re-creation (including costumes) of three dance routines she performed as a child (the audience can see little Claire on film and big Claire dancing simultaneously). So how do these increasingly sweaty athlete-clowns accomplish all their tasks? Usually they don’t, but virtually every task requires audience involvement, so jump in and have fun. 7 p.m. Friday, April 25; 12:30 and 7:15 p.m. Saturday, April 26; 1 p.m. Sunday, April 27. Price Center East Ballroom. $17.
‘The Society of Historic Sonic Happenings’
New York’s UP CLOSE Projects created this ticketed half-hour show for all ages. Audience enter a special sound chamber where audio scientists have discovered a mysterious portal where they can capture in excavation vessels (Mason jars) all of the sounds that have ever been made in the area of San Diego County since the life on Earth began (think dinosaurs in the Carlsbad area chewing fern leaves and ocean waves crashing at La Jolla shores). After exploring the hundreds of labeled vessels, audience break into groups to find, identify and capture new cases of “acoustic leakage. Its’ a clever concept, with some fun audio magic that curious and scientifically minded children are sure to enjoy. 4 p.m. Friday, April 25; 10 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. April 26 and 27. Qualcomm Institute Theater. $12.
‘How to Put On a Sock’
Created by Brooklyn-based theater artist Rachel Gita Karp, this hourlong, funny and interactive play explores the real-life sex-ed programs being offered in American high schools. There’s the restrictive Mississippi program where children familiarize themselves with condoms by using socks; the “Family Feud”-style sex-ed facts game show used in Maryland; and the misleading, anti-abortion computer-generated fetus film used in Tennessee. It’s both funny and thought-provoking, but geared for teens and adults. 6 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 25, at Price Center Theater. 2:30 and 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27, at Qualcomm Institute Auditorium. Free.
‘ODDISEA: A Puppet Procession’
San Diego’s Animal Cracker Conspiracy troupe has become an annual presence at WOW with their imaginatively themed musical processions featuring giant illuminated puppets. This year’s 40-minute procession is ocean- and animal-themed. Always performed around sunset, it’s a magical and mysterious happening that mesmerizes children. 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 25 ,and Saturday, April 26. Walk begins at Warren Mall. Free.
Also worth checking out
“I See You Like This”: Australian artist Jessica Wilson created this family activity where children can use unusual arts and craft objects to decorate the face of their parent and then they pose together for a portrait. 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 25; 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 26-27. Town Square, Price Center. Free.
“Firebird”: The Amsterdam-based art collective Touki Delphine created this electronica installation where audience don silver ponchos and follow a beeping cart to an amphitheater for a show of music inspired by Igor Stravinsky’s 1919 Firebird Suite and a light display created from 500 recycled car taillights. It’s on the long side, but spacey and surreal. 8:15 p.m. today and Saturday, April 25-26. Experience begins at Matthews Quad and moves to the Epstein Family Amphitheater. Free.
Other shows getting good buzz: “American Dream Casino,” “Artists Everywhere,” “Bring Back the Happening,” “Escape the Box,” Marcel Lucont’s shows for children and adults; and “Tale Travelers!”
Public parking is available on campus with the Gilman Parking Structure the closest to festival events, and on weekends, most spaces are free from 11 am.to 7 p.m. Public transit options include the San Diego Metropolitan Transit District’s Blue Trolley Line or one of several MTS buses to campus.
2025 Without Walls Festival
When: 4 to 10:35 p.m. today, April 25; 10 a.m. to 10:45 p.m. Saturday, April 26; 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sunday, April 27
Where: UC San Diego, La Jolla
Tickets: Free to $37
Online: wowfestival.org
