isolation lake

polina volfovich

SOCIAL MEDIA:
@bubble_______bath
@altaersauna

CATEGORY:
​Theater, Comedy

SHOWTIMES:
Thursday 7/16 at 7:00pm
​Thursday 7/16 at 8:30pm

LOCATION:
The Steel Yard
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*Note: This play takes place in a hot mobile sauna, and each attendee must sign this waiver.

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DESCRIPTION OF PIECE:

'Isolation Lake' is an immersive comedy taking place in a hot sauna. Pandemic-era bed rotting, online isolation, Moomin-esque folklore, haha lol

Nine attendees at a time will take off their clothes, don their bathing suits, step into the 85°C (190°F) sauna, and sit closely next to each other on the  natural cedar wood benches. After 5 minutes attendees will begin to sweat. It will be hot, intimate, and vulnerable. After 10 minutes Polina will add water onto hot rocks, making steam. After attendees cool off in the outdoor shower for 15 minutes and return to the sauna the performance will begin and continue for 12 minutes. The last 15 minutes are for cooling off, hydrating and getting dressed. Please bring with you a bathing suit, two towels,  and a bottle of water. Each attendee must sign the waiver prior to showtime.

WAIVER

About the artist

Polina is a Russo-Ukrainian artist, now playwright, independently researching Slavic sweat bathing culture. Isolation Lake is her manifesto for surviving the end times.

By day she facilitates access to affordable studio space, thereby making room for artists, designers, craftspeople and creative businesses here in the Valley Arts neighborhood, which artists have occupied since the fall of American manufacturing in countless old buildings: Atlantic Mills, Building 16, Nicholson File, Fort Thunder––with Secret Mall Apartment taking on the form of a cipher for this way of life.

She keeps alive the dim flame of the setting sun, against all odds.
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Kayla Sibilia is the founder of ALTÆR Sauna, a mobile altar designed to alter perception and biochemistry through the natural arts. A Certified Sauna Master from the Deutsche Sauna Akademie in Germany and Nate Daubert @Natesauna, Kayla describes her creations as "living sculptures" that blend wellness, ecology, and artistry to create spaces for rest, storytelling, and acts of love for nature. ALTÆR redefines the traditional spa experience, transforming public and private settings across Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Each sauna is intentionally built by local craftspeople, carrying both ecological reverence and symbolic meaning. Kayla’s first sauna, Ash, was created to foster trust in the unfoldment of the human experience. Her second, Silky Sifaka "Angels of the Forest", honors the endangered lemurs of Madagascar and provides a place of rest within the community at South Shore Beach in Rhode Island. The third, Gingko, draws inspiration from the 200-million-year-old tree, symbolizing social resiliency. For Kayla, sauna is a practice of human connection and cultural tradition. She believes a profound reverence for life emerges when people share space in nature’s contrast immersions like sauna + open water. In these moments, vulnerability feels less isolating and resilience becomes closer at hand.

​Through ALTÆR, Kayla curates intentional environments for transformation. Her mission is to invite people into a deeper relationship with their bodies, communities, and the Earth, guided by the rhythms of heat, cold, silence, play, and nature. ALTÆR has been featured in VOGUE, Women’s Health, Providence Journal, Best of Rhode Island, RI Monthly, ABC, NBC, Newport Life, Discover Newport, Shou Sugi Ban House, and other publications.