Let’s start with two questions. One, do you like puzzles? And secondly, have you ever wanted to make more friends who live in the same city as you?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might want to check Puzzical chair and pie event on Sunday, July 30 at Innovation District Park on the Providence River Pedestrian Bridge.
The free-to-play event is a cross between speed-dating and musical chairs, except that no one is ever out, and instead of searching for the person across from you as a potential partner, you just spend five minutes solving a 24-piece puzzle with them. Much less pressure.
And there’s a free pocket pie, from Scialo’s County Bakery in Seekonk, for the first 100 people to register for the event.
“You meet people from all walks of life. People that you wouldn’t normally meet and take such a deep dive into art that you might not normally see,” said Seekonk artist Sarah Jane Lapp, who organizes the events with producer Rani MacNeal.
What to expect at the Puzzical Chairs and Pie event?
At the event, cafe tables are set up throughout the park and puzzle bags are placed on each of them. The musicians—for the Providence event, they’ll be the Vox Hunters—will play a song while you argue with the partner you’ve been randomly paired with.
There is a small picture of what the puzzle looks like, but it’s so small that you really are “mysteriously blind,” as Lapp put it, with the art he creates “appearing before your eyes.”
When the song ends, everything resets. New partner. A new puzzle. New song.
“People have these extraordinarily deep conversations when they’re brainstorming, like they’re in love for 5 minutes straight,” Lapp said. “I found it interesting that both extroverts have introverts who seem to be able to handle a five-minute increment.”
If people want to sit on the sidelines and watch or even guess themselves, Lapp said that’s an option. The age range for the event is “5 to 85,” she said, with people coming alone, with friends or as a family.
What is the philosophy of the event?
For the event’s organizers, the puzzles are a gateway to larger ideas about mental health, connection, what matter means, and even democracy.
Placing a puzzle piece directly releases dopamine in the brain, Lapp said.
“They’re getting a neurochemical cocktail,” she said. “It also serves as a kind of safe space to build something together. I think when you’re working on something bigger than yourself, you also experience the magic… of being a part of something bigger than yourself.”
There’s a quote from Rabbi Lawrence Kushner that she said she’s been thinking about for years: “Everyone carries around at least one, and probably many, pieces of someone else’s puzzle. Sometimes they know. Sometimes not.”
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Maybe the person you guess at Puzzical Chairs and Pie will be an important piece of your puzzle, or maybe just a moment of joy. Or maybe it reminds you of your place in a democracy and the importance of your contributions.
“For us, it’s a metaphor for inclusive democracy,” Lapp said. “Every person’s voice matters, and we want that message to get across, to make people feel that they matter and that their piece of the puzzle matters, both literally and metaphorically.”
When is Puzzical Chairs and Pie?
Puzzical Chairs will be held on Sunday, July 30th from 2-4pm at Innovation District Park on the Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Bridge. Rain date is August 6th.
Free tickets are available at Eventbrite.