Machine Project

Alvarado Caverns is now only open during scheduled shows. Please see the Alvarado Caverns schedule below for free drop-in shows. For ticketed Mystery Theater shows, please click here

 
Alvarado Caverns and Mystery Theater is a project by Chris Weisbart that turns the street level of our space into a haunted cave. In the basement, we built an 18-seat Victorian opera house that is accessed via a hidden staircase behind a stalagmite in the cave. We are commissioning a wide range of artists and performers to develop works around hauntings, the uncanny, and the mysterious to take place in the space.

ALVARADO CAVERNS SCHEDULE
Alvarado Caverns will be open to the public starting Thursday, October 17th. The caverns will be open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 8-10pm, through Saturday, November 23rd.

We will occasionally offer free performances during cavern open hours. Here is a list of confirmed performers:

Thursday, October 24th: Scott Cazan performs a few long-form pieces involving feedback networks, autonomous musical agents, field recordings, and acoustic resonance.
Thursday, October 31st: Jason Betrue will lead us in some of the Misfits’ most well-loved and gruesome songs in front of Machine Project for an hour or so, and then will take us into our basement/Victorian theater for some creepy karaoke.
Friday, November 1st & Saturday, November 2nd: Joe Merrell brings us “Suspension of Disbelief (for the love of Frater Perdurabo & K.A.)” which is, in large part, an animated 3D ChromaDepth video homage to the work of Kenneth Anger and Aleister Crowley. The version of the piece being screened at Machine Project was made especially for the Alvarado Canyons and Mystery Theater project. Not for the faint of heart or those sensitive to flashing lights and images!
Thursday, November 7th: Tarot readings by MW of Tarotscopes
Friday, November 8th & Saturday, November 9th: Back by popular demand! Drop-in screenings of Joe Merrell‘s 3-D “Suspension of Disbelief” (see November 1st listing for more details).
Thursday, November 14th: Colin Wambsgans will play a mix of occasionally filtered field recordings including but not limited to bird sounds, engine noises, and ventilation.
Friday, November 15th: Liam Mooney will play music by misusing dry ice, vacuum cleaners, rubber bands, and other familiar materials.
Saturday, November 16th: Ghostly stand-up open mic in the caverns (email machine@machineproject.com for more details!)
Thursday, November 21st: Raphael Arar will perform an ambient & evolving improvised set using pre-processed guitar, live & processed modular synthesizer, piano and vocals that will thematically encompass cavern/theater music.
Friday, November 22nd: In the theater from 8-9pm, Casey Anderson will perform an in-progress works for radios, found resonators, piezo drivers, tuning forks, and laptops. Then, from 9-10pm Paul Fraser‘s floating head can be seen inside the Pepper’s Ghost performing a cave-themed ambient set (sampling recordings about stalagmites/stalactites, The Goonies, The Dark Crystal, etc.).
Saturday, November 23rd: Isaac Schankler will emit soothing/agitating drones with an accordion and some electronics, inspired by a recent pilgrimage to La Monte Young’s Dream House.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE IN THE MYSTERY THEATER

Saturday, October 19th at 11:59pm: Ezra Buchla & Claire Cronin
Sunday, October 20th at 2:00pm: Kate Conklin & Jodie Landau
Sunday, October 20th at 5:00: Trinie Dalton & Amy Gerstler
Friday, October 25th at 11:59pm: Double bill – Patrick Ballard & CLIFF DWELLER
Saturday, October 26th at 10:30pm: Subcontinental Scare: South Asian Tales of Terror (members only show!) – Robin Sukhadia
Saturday, October 26th at 11:59pm: Subcontinental Scare: South Asian Tales of Terror – Robin Sukhadia
Friday, November 1st at 11:59pm: You Will Close Your Eyes – Laura Rivera
Saturday, November 2nd at 2:00pm, 3:30pm & 5:00 pm: Abstraction Reaction – Kelly Sears
Saturday, November 2nd at 11:59pm: Double bill – Fol Chen & Gray Palmer
Sunday, November 3rd at 5pm: Joshua Beckman
Friday, November 8th & Saturday, November 9th at 11:59pm: Ghost in the Machine Project
Sunday, November 10th at 2pm: Waterworker: Acapella Songs of Spirits, Death, and Dreaming – Emily Lacy
Saturday, November 16th at 2pm: Jmy James Kidd and The Sunland Dancers
Saturday, November 16th at 5pm: 16 YOKAI – Jasmine Orpilla and Chris Candelaria
Saturday, November 16th at 10:15pm & 11:59pm: Double bill – Johanna Hedva and Claire Kohne, Jessica Hutchins
Sunday, November 17th at 2pm: Jmy James Kidd and The Sunland Dancers
Sunday, November 17th at 5pm: Gawdafful Psychonautic Theater: Exercises in Spirit
Friday, November 22nd at 11:59pm: Odeya Nini and Archie Carey
Saturday, November 23rd at 2pm: Double Bill: Dominique Gillot & Laura Perini
Saturday, November 23rd at 5pm & 11:59pm: Justin Streichman
Sunday, November 24th at 2pm & 5pm: Daedelus (ambient set w/ tea service by Jaymie Lao)

This is the latest in our series of major transformations of the Machine storefront. Past transformations include:
Storefront Plaza – Nate Page
The Forest – Christy McCaffrey and Sara Newey
Sea Nymph: A shipwrecked boat inside Machine – Josh Beckman

Many many volunteers helped us make this project a reality. You can see a list of everyone who participated here.

Major support for Alvarado Caverns and Mystery Theater has been provided by the Pasadena Art Alliance.