A ‘Celebrations’ Project by Ryan Eykholt 

“CRY WOLF: A Board Game” mutates individual subjective experiences into a collective story. This game developed through an engagement with the rituals of welcoming and storytelling culture within the community institution Mezrab. Players of CRY WOLF begin by picking a prompt and writing a five-sentence true story from their life. As they move their game piece around the board, they perform an act from their story, modified by a Style card. These Style cards play with the tone, sincerity, seriousness, credibility, melody, texture of the story. When the player’s turn has passed, they choose a Transition card. Until their next turn, the player must engage with other players’ stories through disruption, distraction, and collaboration. CRY WOLF seeks to offer opportunities to twist understandings of linguistic and sonic hierarchies, between who is listened to and who is heard. CRY WOLF draws inspiration from Brenda Romero’s ‘The Mechanic is the Message’ series, Mithu Sen’s theorizing of ‘Radical Hospitality’, Yazmany Arboleda’s ‘Colour in Faith’, and Randy Cornelius’ research on ecology of weeping.  The project asks additional questions, now turning towards future growth: How can empathy be challenged into action? Is a moment emotionally significant if it cannot be celebrated, if it cannot be told as a story? When is a story valuable or disposable, and how long do we need a story?