Awake and Still Drowning (Vancouver)

The PXR2026 Conference is excited to announce "Awake and Still Drowning" by XO Secrets part of our Experience Stream! AWAKE & STILL DROWNING is a hands-on, mixed-reality performance about climate change, place, and collective movement. Audience members become part of a flock of seabirds attempting to cross the rapidly flooding Chignecto Isthmus—the narrow land bridge connecting Nova Scotia to mainland Canada. Guided by quiet narration, hand-drawn text, and a bird companion, participants move together through a shifting landscape as the water rises around them. The experience is physical and shared: you walk, pause, adjust, and respond in real time as you navigate the space alongside others. By turning viewers into participants, AWAKE & STILL DROWNING invites audiences to feel the urgency of environmental change not as a distant issue, but as something lived, collective, and unfolding in the present. The work received the Best Immersive Experience Award at the 2025 Guanajuato International Film Festival (GIFF) in Mexico. Each show in the Experience Stream features Virtual Reality (VR) or Mixed Reality (MR). For Awake & Still drowning, you will be provided the option to wear a VR Headset when you arrive at the venue. If you choose to participate in VR, someone will be there to help you get acclimated to the headset and you will participate in a live VR experience! Production by XO SECRET If you have any questions about the event or if finances are a barrier, please email Melissa at melissa@singlethread.ca.