RECESS
RECESS is a new immersive performance created by Odean Pope and Immanuel Wilkins that transforms a North Philadelphia warehouse into a sculptural playground for sound. Part bandstand, part score, part jungle gym, the installation—designed by Wilkins and Rachael Elliott of Studio Senjeh—invites audiences inside a living model of improvisation. Theater artist Jennifer Kidwell acts as guide and facilitator in this experience of “radical play.”
Information & Credits
Producer
Celeste DiNucci
Dramaturg
Germaine Ingram
Project Manager
Graphic Designer
Anna Drozdowski
Lydia Somani
Video Production & Photography
Bob Sweeny & Rennia Rodney
Original Composition
Sculptural Installation
Odean Pope & Immanuel Wilkens
Performance Doula
Racheal Elliot
Jennifer Kidwell
I have yet to work on a project that feels more aligned with who I am. It quickly unfolded into something deeply personal—an extension of myself and the values that shape both my life and my creative practice. Play is at the core of everything I do, and I try to weave it into both my everyday life and the work I create. It was incredibly affirming to have the opportunity to bring together two of the things I love most: play and music.
From the beginning, I wanted to create something that felt playful yet sophisticated. I wanted something that anyone could connect with and feel excited by. The typefaces SK Irrationalist and my go-to, Aperçu Mono, struck that balance beautifully.
The visual language was also deeply inspired by Immanuel's graphic scores, a method of composition that I didn't even know could exist until I encountered his work. It transforms the act of making music into an experience of pure play and experimentation, allowing composition to become a multitude art forms in one. Shapes and patterns swirl and dance between the staves of the page, creating a visual rhythm that feels just as expressive as the music itself. That sense of curiosity, movement, and joyful exploration became the foundation of my design approach.
Odean Pope—who studied closely with John Coltrane in his youth and later toured extensively with Max Roach while developing his own groundbreaking Saxophone Choir—has devoted his life to both innovation and mentorship. A central figure in the city’s musical life for more than half a century, he has shaped generations of improvisers through performance and teaching. Saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins began studying with Pope as a child and has since emerged as one of the leading voices of his generation. Together, they have created RECESS, a new commissioned work and immersive performance environment that explores lineage, memory, and improvisation.
Wilkins designed the sculptural installation as a 3-D graphic score that evokes “play” from three dimensions: as one “plays” a score, it is a process waiting to be discovered; as one “plays” an instrument, it produces and transforms sound; and as one “plays” as a child, its visual presence conjures the urban playground. This literally sets the stage for a collective encounter to explore ideas of radical play. A living score of memory, movement, and creative risk, RECESS collapses the separations among sound, thought, memory, and possibility.
