Mystery Skelton

Have you ever caught that shimmering light out of the corner of your eye… Or a blurry figure in the woods that disappears before you can make it out… Something that only comes out once in a while to create a commotion before retreating to its hidey-hole? That is Mystery. Mystery is also an emerging interdisciplinary artist based in New York with specializations in the strange and unusual (gothic, the occult, demonology, murder mysteries, punk, cults, and ‫cryptozoology‬). They have a unique capability of noticing things other people miss, like four leaf clovers hidden in a field, so when approaching an artistic project they are able to hone into specifics.

Mystery’s training aims to harbor collaboration and communication throughout the creative process to build something beautiful and unique to the performers. They engage conversations surrounding gender expression, invisible illness, and social inequalities, while using the gothic and horror as a lens to discuss the systems that suppress minorities. They utilize live performance to create events that are memorable into infinity for everyone involved. They are enthralled by the history of storytelling and the theatrical practice of magical realism, tying this to their native (Diné) and Hispanic roots. These ideas blossom into their writing and designs by harboring open and honest conversations that value the collaborators. Having a trauma informed approach is a long held value that can be seen throughout their work, encouraging the comfort of actors and audience members. 

As a disabled queer artist, Mystery can be found in their lair creating assemblage art, writing, sewing patches on old clothes, planning live music events, or tending to their occasionally carnivorous plants. This work involves creating spaces of acceptable risk through both consent based practices and trauma informed practices. While their writing often upholds the traditions of the gothic form, their set designs tend to engage elements that are associated with lightness and utopia, a battle between power structures and the natural world. They value sustainability and reusing things considered trash to make new theatrical treasures. They adore the world of immersive theatre for its more tactile audience involvement, inspired by the human desire to engage with art on a physical level: paper bags become dead leaves audiences can scatter, touch, and crumble or audiences are offered silent stim toys and weighted stuffed animals to play and engage with throughout a show. Immersive art builds an opportunity for the audience to play while also holding emotional space for the story that is being told. They now understand that live music is just as theatrical, engaging, and emotional as any other live performance art, if not more. So when you catch a glimpse of a shadow high up a tree, enjoy the knowledge that it may just be Mystery, engulfed in a book or frantically drawing a design.

Photo: Mia Isabella Aguirre

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