Join us for How to Play the Sondheim Way: A Parlor Game Workshop, a 90-minute lecture/workshop designed for NYU students to discover how the playful approach to parlor games of the famed lyricist/composer Stephen Sondheim can inspire our own creative practices. Based on the new book Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Games and Puzzles of the Broadway Legend, the gathering will open with an exploration of how Sondheim designed puzzles (like treasure hunts and cryptic crosswords) to create moments of clarity and designed games (like parlor and board games) to create moments of connection. Then, in a hands-on workshop, participants will experience and analyze Sondheim-style parlor games, identify the design values embedded within, and work in small groups to remix familiar parlor games through the lens of these values: playfulness, generosity, and mentorship.
Barry Joseph is a games-based educator, game designer, and founder of the Games For Change Festival. After learning that famed composer & lyricist Stephen Sondheim once considered leaving the world of musical theater for video game design, Barry began research to uncover this wholly original way to use games and puzzles design to understand the mind that transformed musical theater. Barry worked at the American Museum of Natural History and the Girl Scouts of the USA. He is now the founder of Barry Joseph Consulting, dedicated to innovating solutions for learning in a digital age, and the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum. He also teaches Digital Design for Museum-based Learning at New York University, based on his book Dancing with Dinosaurs: A Toolkit for Digital Design in Museums. His latest book is Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Games and Puzzles of the Broadway Legend. Learn more at MatchingMindswithSondheim.com, on his podcast of the same name, or on Instagram @MatchingMindswithSondheim.