How Landline aims to connect people in cities across Canada

When you go see a play, you're usually told to put your phone away but if you're checking out Landline in Calgary and St. John's next week, you're actually going to need your phone. 

See, Landline is a performance that happens in two cities at once. It's part walking tour, part online chat room — and you're the star of the show. 

"It's a shared experience for two audience members in two different cities," co-creator Adrienne Wong explains. "Between the two of you, you're both the audience member but also the performer for each other and you make Landline together."

Through iPods and text messages, partners are prompted to start a conversation while strolling around their respective cities. "Texts are very intimiate," Wong argues. "We hold those devices so close to our bodies, so when we engage it's almost like they're an extension of ourselves."

In the end, partners meet over a video call back at Landline's home base and, it is the hope of Wong and co-creator Dustin Harvey, that a connection was forged through the experience. Through doing it herself, Wong knows that this is possible and attributes the performance piece to helping her feel more at home now in Ottawa. 

"It made me want to not wear a headset," she says, surprisingly. "To be more present where I am, and see the small moments of beauty and connection, or disconnection, that happen every day ont he sidewalk on the city streets."