Episode 77: Ilana Gilovich - Mortality, Made Beautiful

Ilana Gilovich is a writer, experience designer, and creative director based in Brooklyn, NY.

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(00:00) Moving to NYC from Ithaca

(03:12) Defining art as a way of being

(06:05) Childhood whimsy: Peter Pan birthday story

(09:18) Early writing, dance, and voracious reading

(12:02) Cornell path: English, dance, theater, PhD

(15:06) No master plan, just following delight

(18:11) Nature homesickness versus the “concrete jungle”

(21:04) Discovering Sleep No More during internship

(24:48) What immersive theater is, and why it hooked her

(28:37) Inside the McKittrick: masks, rooms, world-building

(32:46) One-on-one encounters and intimate audience moments

(36:18) Rising through roles: FOH, events, cast, storytelling

(39:58) The gift of repeating one piece for years

(42:48) Academia disenchantment: jargon vs close reading

(45:34) Closure and pivot: freelance experience design

(48:12) Creating rituals: thresholds, atmosphere, embodiment

(51:34) Meaning themes: death, connection, ingestion vs expression

(54:20) Success, “enough,” love, art-rapture, and kindness