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AJ Annunziata thought it was a shame when innovative former Area15 venue Lost Spirits Distillery closed its doors last year.
“They were a really creative group. It was like a walking burlesque theater experience,” recalls Area15’s vice president of creative. “We really didn’t want to lose any of that theming, and we always thought that it would make a great party space. So we started to figure out a way to honor the art that they created and then add to it.”
Annunziata and his team went on to transform the cavernous warehouse into a new, weekly dark carnival-themed rave called Oddyssey Noir. It launched in April as the first entry in a new “floating party” series offered under Area15’s Nite Mode membership program.
For $25, members gain access to all four Saturday sessions during the month, plus discounted tickets and drinks at other Area15 venues. Individual tickets are also on sale.
An evening at Oddyssey Noir features a rotating mix of DJs playing crispy beats while a cast of acrobats and performers from other circus-adjacent disciplines become part of the show. No two nights are the same, but my session in June offered anything and everything—spicy monks holding BDSM whips, a man roaming with a glowing saxophone, neon-clad tetherers and baton twirlers, a room with swaying chandeliers and even a mock chapel where a seemingly buzzed priest performed fake ceremonies under multicolored lights.
The decor is equally enthralling, with art deco-inspired posters, murals of bipedal lizard men and pinup-style sword-eaters, hidden statues, and old-timey, string-hung cardboard cutout cartoons from the original Lost Spirits setup.
As I progressed into the space, I found a pair of burlesque dancers in glittering silver leotards, knee-high boots and bedazzled police hats, free-forming to the tech-house, no-fusion banger that is Eli Brown’s “Diamonds on my Mind.” That energy carried through the wee hours.
Annunziata says the goal is to create alternative gatherings geared more toward locals than tourists. He and his team channeled their own experiences as clubgoers to bring that vision to life.
“When I go to warehouse raves in Brooklyn or Europe ... it feels clandestine and fun and like anything can happen. We wanted to give a little bit of that fantasy with folks when they enter,” Annunziata says. “Seeing some of the rough edges and obscuring it in darkness, fog, minimalism and light creates this space for participants to forget where they are and let loose.”
Annunziata notes the space will be constantly evolving while his staff works to develop additional Nite Mode parties in the future.
“This is a prequel story for us. I don’t want to give away too much, but as we start developing out more of the spaces, more of the pieces of that story will come to life,” Annunziata says, teasing that “something is happening in the fall with Oddyssey.”
Even with all the frills and intrigue, the spectacle remains grounded in the music.
“The intention is that we’re playing club music. We’re not playing Spotify, we’re playing dance floor stompers,” he says.
ODDYSSEY NOIR August 2, 9, 16 & 23, 10 p.m., $22+ (or $25/month with Nite Mode membership). Area15, area15.com.
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