Bryant Park, Summer 2010
From NY Daily News:
A mysterious 8-by-8-foot shiny box is coming to Bryant Park next week - and a star may be inside.
The folks at art.party.theater.company are betting New Yorkers will line up to meet a secret celebrity inside the Mylar-covered "Starbox" on the park's fountain terrace, starting Friday.
"We invite lots of speculation about who the celebrity will be," said Artistic Director Mary Birnbaum, hinting, "It's someone probably everybody knows and someone that probably everyone likes."
Birnbaum and her cohorts hope to create a celeb-crazed stampede - about 30 performers will play scripted agents, personal assistants and star-struck fans to build the hype. There will be a red carpet. And velvet ropes.
While organizers promise there will be a real celeb inside the box, they won't guarantee which list the star is on: A, B, C, D or even Z.
Could it be Beyoncé? Justin Bieber? Or someone less, um, current, like Scott Baio? Those behind the box already are building buzz, tweeting with tongue in cheek.
"Awesome! I heard that @bryantparknyc is hosting #starbox July 2-3/30 and August 6/13! I saw it in Sydney last year and met Hugh Jackman!"
And: "woke up late. but i hear that lindsay has reques ted only blue pretzel m&m's for her stay inside #starbox."
The performance is about hope as much as it is about hype, say members of the troupe, who also invaded Bryant Park last summer to play croquet in bright white outfits and quote the park's poet namesake, William Cullen Bryant.
And even if it is all smoke and mirrors, organizers have devised a way to keep people coming to the Starbox, which will be open from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. every Friday through Aug. 13.
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/lohan-beyonce-levi-johnston-mystery-celebrity-in-a-box-causing-stir-bryant-park-article-1.466778#ixzz2jdXucuwC
From the HuffPo:
Art.party.theater.company is putting a celebrity in a box and plopping them down in Bryant Park.
Beginning July 23, the "starbox" will be inhabited by a secret celebrity, and visitors are invited to come take a peek at who's inside.
Artistic Director Mary Birnbaum said, "We invite lots of speculation about who the celebrity will be. It's someone probably everybody knows and someone that probably everyone likes."
Birnbaum would not comment on exactly how big a star the box dweller will be.
Before guests enter the box, they'll be required to sign a non-disclosure release.
From NY Mag:
If the performance troupe art.party.theater.company is to be believed, an eight-by-eight-foot box will show up in Bryant Park this Friday, and in that box will be a famous person. This famous person will sit in the box from between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., on every Friday from July 23 to August 13, and will be viewable to all those who show up and are willing to sign a nondisclosure form. As we see it, inside the box will either be: (a) an individual who is technically famous but in no way fulfills the layperson's understanding of the word celebrity, (b) the punch line to a potentially amusing/terrible joke, or (c) David Blaine (please don't be David Blaine). Okay, care to guess which "celebrity" may in fact be in the box?