Angela Washko Presents "The Council is in Session" at Worlds in Play Conference

MFA Program Director and Professor Angela Washko recently presented and play-tested her Catalyst grant-supported project The Council is in Session at the 2025 Worlds in Play conference, held at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

At a time of increasing public dissatisfaction with politicians and their ability to represent constituents in the United States, ​“The Council is in Session” is a tabletop roleplaying game and participatory improvisational performance experience created by Angela Washko. Played while seated around table outfitted with custom electronics, resin polyhedral dice sets made by the artist, and six different player booklets, ​“The Council is in Session” invites players to perform a scenario in which they are tasked with reimagining a community’s governance while responding to musical cues, instructional prompts, and finding new community and unlikely allies amidst a large scale catastrophe.

Worlds in Play is a shared play conference where artists invite one another into works-in-progress to explore new forms of agency in storytelling and experience. Through workshops, playtests, games, demos, performances, presentations, and other custom participatory formats, artists experiment in real-time, iterating in community with peers who have gathered in the spirit of curiosity. The gathering brings together a vibrant spectrum of practices, including and beyond: Alternate Reality Games (ARGs), immersive theatre, Live Action Role Playing Games (larp), social practice, performance art, XR, Tabletop Role Playing Games, ritual, and party.