'The Tuskhut Man' Leans Towards the Weird and Corny

Two years ago, at Jason Woliner's birthday party, a strange guest attended. Mysterious, wise, amazing: he was an animatronic cowboy robot named Dale. In previous years, Woliner had been transfixed by immersive theater and animatronics, which led him to purchase Dale. Woliner's obsession with him became similar to that of Frankenstein and his monster.

Dale's presence was a triumph. Using a complex software system, Woliner made the animatronic conversational. “I set him up in my garage. People would come in, ask him questions, and he would give me relationship advice,” Woliner says.

A disturbing collection of animatronics became a regular feature in the director's life. More meetings followed. Dale hosted an event at the Dynasty Typewriter theater instead of Woliner. Later, another of his animatronics had campfire talks with audiences at the Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans. Woliner's creative partner of 15 years, Eric Notarnicola, also joined the project.

Notarnicola and Woliner, known for comedy projects such as “Nathan for You,” “The Rehearsal,” “Paul T. Goldman” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” found that animatronics aligned with their work: absurd, funny and occasionally devastating explorations of truth and vulnerability.

Dale, now better known as “the man,” will welcome guests to the Velaslavasay Panorama this month in a show called “The Man in the Tuskhut.” The Nova Tuskhut is a space within the compound designed as a trading post in the Arctic. For the show, attendees have an individual meeting with the Tuskhut man. That was after watching a documentary about frontiersman Henry James Entrikin, enjoying a drink in a saloon, and grilling hot dogs.

“We started experimenting with this strange, interactive, intimate conversation with an animatronic and turned it into a story that is surprising and maybe funny and maybe disturbing, something that leaves you with an unusual experience,” says Woliner.

The animatronic improvises in a conversation based on a story outline written by Woliner and Notarnicola. Inside the Tuskhut, the animatronic provokes surprising encounters with guests, says Notarnicola. “Some people come and play a character. If they're interested in role-playing, then they can do it. Other people play it much more straight,” he says.

The lively show, which is not advertised on social media, has been gaining popularity through word of mouth. “We haven't spent a single cent on marketing,” says Woliner. Collaborators have sold out 200 encounters with the animatronic, holding 20 encounters per day.

In the Ken Burns-style sepia-tinged historical documentary, visitors learn that the man was killed by “the arctic cold that was both his companion and his adversary.” His travels include encounters with the Inuit, snow blindness, and a burning need for solitude that leads him to abandon his family to live a life in the Arctic trading post. The documentary echoes the protagonists of Jack London's novels: men who confront nature and fight to survive, a trope that Woliner enjoys.

“We've done some things with those kind of dirty, lonely men,” Woliner says, laughing.

Once inside the Tuskhut, visitors sit across from the man in a dimly lit room. Hooks line the walls. The medicine cabinets gather dust on the shelves, those with “remedies for ailments, some imaginary, others real.” Later, the man reflects: “True medicine is having something to believe in.” A radio plays in the background with static and news about “that Hitler guy,” as the man says. The strange encounter is different for each visitor who sits before its disturbing gaze.

“Some people have had experiences that seem similar to going to a confessional or a therapy session because some of the prompts and questions are open-ended,” says Sara Velas, founder of Velaslavasay Panorama and a collaborator on the project. “People say, ‘I haven't heard anyone talk to me in that tone of voice since my grandfather was alive.’ It's a framework with a lot of different outcomes and it's been really special to watch.”

From left to right, Jason Woliner, Ruby Carlson Bedirian and Eric Notarnicola next to an animatronic skeleton.

(Carlin Stiehl / for The Times)

Notarnicola says the reach of animatronic entertainment technology is far-reaching across languages ​​and cultures. “We can carry out the experience in more than 30 different languages. We have carried out the experience in Spanish, Slovak, Polish and Chinese,” he says. “It removes this boundary of communication where anyone, anywhere can experience it and communicate.”

Ruby Carlson Bedirian, the theater's head of engineering and enrichment and contributor, says many visitors try to damage the animatronic or break it. “A lot of the people who come are, proportionately, insiders; they're interested in this way,” says Carlson Bedirian. “There have been so many artists, technicians and specialized craftsmen who have had really amazing interactions.”

The animatronic had a storied history before joining the world of Woliner and Notarnicola. As they discovered, the robot was manufactured as part of a US military operation. It was used at an immersive training facility at Camp Pendleton to prepare soldiers for the war in Afghanistan. In a strange twist of fate, it ended up in the filmmakers' possession through eBay, after a man named Juju kept the animatronic in his living room in Florida.

“We found them through Reddit (there's a Reddit that sells animatronics) and a guy had posted that he was trying to download them,” Woliner says. Woliner spends time on the animatronic Reddit alongside Disneyland and Chuck E. Cheese enthusiasts.

One of the animatronics even appeared in the most recent season of “The Rehearsal.” “We're trying to use them for good,” Woliner says.

For Woliner and Notarnicola, “The Man in the Tuskhut” is just the beginning of their adventure with animatronics. “We have other shows in development and other things we want to do that are bigger: multiple characters. This is just the beginning of where this form of interaction and entertainment is going,” Notarnicola says. The creative duo recently launched Incident, a new experimental entertainment company dedicated to these otherworldly projects.

Woliner is excited to be part of a growing community of interactive experiences in Los Angeles. “What excites me most is being part of the unconventional community of Los Angeles,” he says.