logo
The future of theater is immersive. These L.A. artists are creating it in real time

The future of theater is immersive. These L.A. artists are creating it in real time

Throughout the evening on Sunday, I was placed in a foreign jail, joined a folk-rock band for a sing-along uprising that involved a killer bear and ran up multiple times against selfish, greedy taskmasters, once in a comedic production in a jazz club and another time in the back room of a seedy dance space.
A scene from 'That's Jazz Baby!' from immersive team Spies Among Us. 'Our big goal going in was making a simple, understandable, funny piece and hoping everything else fell into place after that,' says Spies Among Us founder Prescott Gadd.
(Chiara Alexa / For The Times)
And it all felt like freedom, 10 minutes at a time.
The Immersive Invitational, now in its fourth year, was presented in collaboration with the LGBT Center and the After Hours Theatre Company, with the support of local group the Immersive Experience Institute. The conceit: Participating companies are given 48 hours to craft a new, 10-minute production and then perform it multiple times on the event's concluding day. Audiences become part of the show — 'immersive theater' denotes the involvement of the ticket buyer, usually by interacting with or following the cast. There's silliness — one production involved a cryogenically frozen Swedish rapper — and the overall tone is one of joviality, the belief that art in the early 21st century should be increasingly interactive and playable.
In Dr3am Logikk's 'Bird Is the Word,' participants were thrown in a jail, playing the part of a rock band that made a racket in a nameless foreign land ruled by authoritarianism.
(Chiara Alexa / For The Times)
Immersive is a broad term. It encompasses everything from large-scale theme park lands — Universal Studios' Epic Universe in Florida, which opens May 22, is seen as perhaps the largest immersive happening of the year — to play-focused wonderlands such as the Sloomoo slime museum. Immersive theater tends to lean more niche, but as more generations increasingly grow up surrounded by games and social media apps that rely on gamification techniques, experimenting with ways to merge art and play is seen as vital.
'[Participants] have agency,' says Aaron Vanek, co-founder of Spectacular Disaster Factory, one of the troupes in the show. 'I think it's an empowering situation when participants are able to not just immersive themselves in a world but actually affect that world and, in today's current situation, just having a little bit of power to make a significant change to a person, a character or a story is extremely enriching.'
At this year's invitational, music was given as a broad topic, but themes often worked their way back toward artistic expression — the emptiness when its taken from us, the messiness when emotions get involved and the power when collaborating with others. The majority of the productions nodded abstractly to world outside the halls of the Los Angeles LGBT Center in Hollywood, seemingly in broad agreement that life for many in 2025 is full of unseen stressors, and yet many also found an uplifting spirit by allowing audience members to join in on the act of creation.
The now annual L.A. Immersive Invitational featured eight, 10-minute theatrical performances, all centered on a theme of music.
(Chiara Alexa / For The Times)
Advertisement
With the limited time frame, participating theater crews have to quickly establish a place and a sense of purpose, lending the audience, which must immediately contort to their role as actors, a call to action. We are, for instance, to free ourselves from a prison in an unnamed country or find out who killed classical music. The were different levels of interactivity, as one show gave us interview prompts, another had us act as puppeteers of a sort, and elsewhere we were instructed to do some rudimentary bad street dancing. And immersive theater, when it works, breaks down barriers, allowing the act of play to get to know our fellow audience members and explore narratives and emotions with trained actors.
'A season doesn't exist in immersive theater,' says Graham Wetterhahn, the founding artistic director of After Hours, noting that many productions have short runs. They can often sell out quickly. The L.A. Immersive Invitational is a way, hopefully, to expose audiences to various troupes to expand their reach.
I had to literally be kicked out of 'Stringed Instruments,' from Spectacular Disaster Factory, as the show appeared to continue long after its final beat. Tonally, it differed from much at the Immersive Invitational, striking a demented, borderline-horror feel as audiences explored the dressing room of an electronic music dance club. There, two bottle girls sat before makeup mirrors. Our only instruction was to look for strings with brightly colored paper dots attached, and these were found after a minute or two on the arms of the actors.
'Stringed Instruments' from Spectacular Disaster Factory took on an eerie tone, in which audiences controlled actors as if they were puppets.
(Chiara Alexa / For The Times)
The scantily clad performers spoke in monotone — 'lipstick,' 'hairbrush,' 'pencil' — as the audience took turns puppeteering their arms around their desks. Occasionally, a superior would come in and remind them and us of the minutes till opening. It was affecting. We were at once attempting to help the actors in their request but unable to free them from the grips from the occupation that was leaving them dead-eyed. It leant the audience a discerning sense of agency, as we could control the show but only to a point.
A diary of one of the actors — splayed open on the desk — read that she was grieving the loss of her future. 'Stringed Instruments' was a work that left the audience without a closing moment of wish fulfillment. There was no uprising, no quitting, and that empty future seemed the way forward. And yet there was a sense of comfort in its monotony, the simple act of hunting for items on a desk and directing an actor creating a sense of calmness that sought to raise questions surrounding the ways in which we unjustly acquiesce.
'We're coming at immersive theater from an opposite edge,' says Spectacular Disaster Factory's co-founder Kirsten Hageleit. 'A lot of people are coming from traditional theater. There's people from escape rooms. We're coming from live-action role-playing and a type of role-play where it's not scripted.'
Audience members at the L.A. Immersive Invitational play a piano in 'That's Jazz Baby!' from Spies Among Us.
(Chiara Alexa / For The Times)
'That's Jazz Baby!' from Spies Among Us, the team behind a long-running Little Tokyo tale of espionage, found similar lifelessness in corporate drudgery, this time in a jazz nightclub. Only here, the goal was more lighthearted and the audience did succeed in freeing the performers from the clutches of a exaggeratedly maniacal owner. Audiences had to liberate a cadre of musicians from hypnosis and do so by concocting scenarios in which the club's proprietor was continually forced to leave the room. We donned wigs and played instruments as we fought for equity in a show that argued the appeal of music wasn't perfectionism or talent but community.
Classical music, the genre, was murdered in 'Settling the Score' from Meanwhile ... Netprov Studio.
(Chiara Alexa / For The Times)
Spy Brunch found inspiration in the era of '60s protest music in its 'Ursa Major and the Blue Mountain Hexes,' turning audience members into makeshift musicians in its mischievous show about outwitting a government agent. The story took a metaphorically magical bent, focusing on music's power to unite — and potentially summon a bear. 'Bird Is the Word' from Dr3am Logikk had similar messages but did so via a setting in which rock 'n' roll was outlawed and its Clash-inspired musicians were jailed for making a racket in a foreign land. To fight authoritarianism, we had to craft an inspirational song using no instruments and no animal noises. Both were shows that inspired connections and vulnerability, part of the elation of communal art.
Emotional volatility was touched on in 'Frog and Toad: Live in Concert!' from Last Call Theatre, one of the more prolific companies on the immersive scene. It played to the group's choose-your-own-adventure strengths, pairing audience members with an actor in attempt to stop a band from breaking up. The age-old tension between artistic originality and commerce was explored, and our team failed at finding a compromise. The Queen's Fools went a slightly more traditional theater route with 'Devil on My Shoulder,' in which we were fed prompts to actors in a show that argued even more passive productions can find ways to get audiences to lean in.
There's occasionally an absurdity in interactive fiction. Cherry Poppins' 'Ismusik' and Meanwhile ... Netprov Studio's 'Settling the Score' each put the emphasis on comedic improvisation, the former presenting to us mini challenges as we saved Swedish hip-hop and the latter tasking us with interviewing personified musical genres in an attempt to solve a murder, in this case classical music. Yet underlying each were subtle statements about fame-chasing in our commodified age.
Big messages can go down easy — or even slightly disguised — in immersive entertainment. That's because we're playing, and when we play we're in the moment. We're also slightly out of own headspace and ready to buy into worlds of wonder or even strife. And at the Immersive Invitational, where productions ranged from goofy to heavy, there was an underlying common denominator, and that is that immersive play can inspire radical joy.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Gen Z ditches traditional dating rules not to just ‘go through the motions'
Gen Z ditches traditional dating rules not to just ‘go through the motions'

New York Post

time15 hours ago

  • New York Post

Gen Z ditches traditional dating rules not to just ‘go through the motions'

Dating's latest trend? Total anarchy — and not in the punk rock way. A new report from the sex-positive app Feeld and educator Ruby Rare found that a growing number of Gen Zers are opting out of traditional relationship models and into something called 'relationship anarchy' — and one in five may be practicing it without even realizing. Coined in 2006 by Swedish writer Andie Nordgren, relationship anarchy — or RA — is a radical, anti-hierarchical, anti-capitalist take on love and connection. As Nordgren noted in her manifesto, it 'questions the idea that love is a limited resource that can only be real if restricted to a couple.' In other words, why should romance get top billing when your BFF, roommate or creative collaborator might fulfill your soul more than a spouse? 'It's a relationship style that is founded on politically anarchic principles. It takes being intentional,' Rare explained in the study. 'You have to examine the relationships you currently have in your life, and reflect and deep dive. Are you just going through the motions?' Feeld's findings show RA devotees report feeling less lonely and more supported — but it's not all communal bliss and pillow talk. Feeld's findings say RA fans feel less lonely and more backed up — but it's not all group hugs and sweet nothings. Alberto – 'It's challenging to figure out what your boundaries are,' Rare said. 'But I don't think relationship building should be about shying away from challenge.' Instead of prioritizing sexual exclusivity or 'Disney fairy-tale romance,' RA promotes mutual care across all connections — romantic or not. 'Everyone is taught the rules at a young age: One person in your life is meant to be your everything,' Sam, a 33-year-old gender-fluid music licensing administrator, told Wired in a recent interview. People would feel more fulfilled in their relationships 'if they were able to prioritize others based on what they actually wanted versus what they believe is expected of them.' Forget fairy tales — RA ditches monogamy for a mix-and-match lovefest built on mutual care, whether it's with a partner, pal or podcast co-host. Pixel-Shot – The goal? Freedom, not perfection. 'A lot of people will tell me, 'Oh, I wish I could be polyamorous or a relationship anarchist, but I just get too jealous,'' Lavvynder said. 'And it's like, well, I get jealous too… It's really f—king hard, actually.' Still, many say it's worth the mess. As Rare puts it: 'Human connection is inherently messy. The better we are at embracing that, the better we are at enjoying our lives.' And for a rising number of romantics, relationship anarchy might just be the escape route. Polyamory — and its close cousin, relationship anarchy — may not just be about love and liberation. It can also be practical.

John Lennon's ‘smutty' love letter to future wife revealed
John Lennon's ‘smutty' love letter to future wife revealed

Yahoo

time19 hours ago

  • Yahoo

John Lennon's ‘smutty' love letter to future wife revealed

A 'smutty' love letter by John Lennon to his future wife – including his complaints about Paul McCartney's snoring – has emerged 63 years on. The Beatle, then aged just 21, wrote to art student Cynthia Powell telling her how much he missed her while the band were in the middle of their Hamburg stint in April 1962. The letter, written over five nights of concerts in the city, touched on various themes, including the sudden death of former bandmate Stuart Sutcliffe the week earlier. The note also featured an amusing moan from Lennon about McCartney's 'snoring' in the bunk bed above his. In the letter, signed by Lennon and written between April 19-24 1962, he wrote: 'Paul's leaping about on my head (he's in a bunk on top of me and he's snoring) ... Shurrup Mcarntey [sic]!' The musician then confides in Powell that he had avoided Astrid Kirchherr, Sutcliffe's German fiancee, because 'I would be so awkward'. He then shot down Cynthia's plan to move in with Dot Rhone, McCartney's girlfriend, as it would have caused a lack of privacy when he and Powell were in bed together. The letter said: 'I love love love you and I'm missing you like mad ... I wish I was on the way to your flat with the Sunday papers and chocies [sic] and a throbber.' 'I wonder why all the newspapers wrote about Stu … I haven't seen Astrid since the day we arrived. I've thought of going to see her but I would be so awkward.' It went on: 'I don't like the idea of Dot moving in permanently with you cause we would never be alone really ... imagine having her there all the time when we were in bed – and imagine Paul coming all the time. '...I love you, please wait for me and don't be sad and work hard, be a clever little Cyn Powell.' John and Cynthia, who was a year older than him, had been in a relationship for four years, having met at Liverpool College of Art. They married in August 1962 and had their son Julian in April 1963, weeks after 'Beatlemania' exploded with the release of the band's chart-topping first album Please Please Me. The pair divorced in 1968 and Powell later claimed Lennon had physically abused her throughout their relationship, including slapping her face in a fit of jealousy. The handwritten letter, described as one of the finest ever written by the singer, was sold by Powell to a Swedish collector in 1991 after she fell on hard times and needed to raise money. It then changed hands to the Swedish vendor in 1993. It will be on sale at Christie's auction with a £30,000 to £40,000 estimate. Thomas Venning, the head of books and manuscripts at Christie's, said: 'Reading the letter you get the sense of two young people in love, with no idea of what was going to happen to them, which makes it really compelling and historical. 'They are very unfiltered and you can hear him using his own voice. 'There are some smutty and funny bits and you sense his personality on the page, unlike his later letters which are more guarded and preachy. 'It provides an early insight into the Beatles from their time in Hamburg which was so important to their development as a band.' The sale takes place on July 9. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.

‘Vanguard,' About Swedish Mogul Jan Stenbeck, Sells to Multiple Territories: ‘Him and Trump Are Both Extremely Divisive Figures' (EXCLUSIVE)
‘Vanguard,' About Swedish Mogul Jan Stenbeck, Sells to Multiple Territories: ‘Him and Trump Are Both Extremely Divisive Figures' (EXCLUSIVE)

Yahoo

time2 days ago

  • Yahoo

‘Vanguard,' About Swedish Mogul Jan Stenbeck, Sells to Multiple Territories: ‘Him and Trump Are Both Extremely Divisive Figures' (EXCLUSIVE)

'Vanguard,' a drama about Swedish mogul Jan Stenbeck, has sold to TG4 (Ireland), ERR (Estonia), Viaplay SVOD on Amazon Prime (U.S., U.K., Poland), Viaplay Select on Cindie (LatAm), Prima+ (Czech Republic) and Vodafone (Greece), Variety has found out exclusively. FLX's Lejla Bešic produced the five-episode show – about to premiere at Monte Carlo TV Festival – for SVT in collaboration with the N8 alliance, while Viaplay Content Distribution handles international sales. More from Variety Jason Priestley on Why 'BH90210' Got Canceled, and Why He Would Act in 'Euphoria' If He Were a Young Star 'The Tourist,' Starring Jamie Dornan, Wins Best Series at Monte-Carlo Television Festival 'The Reunion' Star Ioan Gruffudd, Director Bill Eagles, Producer Sydney Gallonde on Remaining Faithful to Guillaume Musso's Novel The story, based on Per Andersson's biography 'Stenbeck: A Biography of a Successful Businessman,' kicks off with Stenbeck (played by Jakob Oftebro, known for 'Black Crab' and 'Hamilton') returning to the family he has spent his whole life rejecting. Just like … Michael Corleone. 'I wanted to do a homage to 'The Godfather,'' laughed director Goran Kapetanović. He's happy, working in New York and romancing an American socialite. But when tragedy strikes, twice, he needs to lead his family's industrial group. The king is dead. Long live the king. 'He was this prince, living in the U.S., and then the king asked him to go back to Sweden. But he just painted the whole castle pink,' said Kapetanović. Stenbeck had ideas of his own, ultimately breaking Sweden's telephone monopoly and launching Scandinavia's first commercial channel TV3. 'He was a gambler – that's how he lived his life. Later, he was addicted to food and alcohol and just destroyed himself. It's quite tragic, this portrait of a strong, powerful man who deals with so many things but remains oblivious to his family, for example.' It was the complicated family dynamic that attracted Alex Haridi. He wrote the script with Lotta Erikson and Helene Lindholm. 'I also have a very, very complicated relationship with my sister. When I started reading about Jan, that part opened my eyes: it's like watching Greek gods, fighting and having all these conflicts, and everything they do trickles down to ordinary people. I can see things in my own life that are a direct result of these siblings not getting along back in the early 80s.' He added: 'He really impacted our lives in Sweden, and he wasn't even meant to run the company! He was the youngest of four children. Then he steps in and becomes this enormous figure. I don't want to put an equal sign between him and Trump, but they are both extremely divisive figures. People call him the savior or the devil. In a sense, he's both. And neither.' Their lead actor had to capture this duality, too. 'Jan can be likeable. There's something mystical about him and a little bit childish. I've been looking all over Sweden, then I turned to Norway and the only guy who could speak all three Scandinavian languages was Jakob,' recalled Kapetanović. 'It was a bit risky because of the accent, but he did a Swedish show before. Now, we have a Norwegian guy playing one of the most important Swedish guys. I'm so proud of it.' Haridi noted: 'I just remember watching Jakob during the casting process. He was so charming, so warm and wonderful. And then there was this point when everything shifts. All of a sudden, it felt icky. He really carries the show.' Oftebro is joined by Zoe Boyle, Malin Crepin, Julia Marko Nord, Iggy Malmborg and Niklas Engdahl. While 'Vanguard' had to be 'very, very factually correct,' admitted Haridi, the actual family wasn't involved. 'We talked to lots of people around the family and around the company. The family itself was informed the series was being written and made, but they didn't want to participate.' Instead, the team focused on making the story appealing to younger viewers – Stenbeck passed away in 2002 – and finding a way to combine his personal struggles with massive changes in the media landscape he was very much a part of. 'In the 1970s, there were educational programs everywhere, and then people realized they could make money. They just said: 'We want to give people what they want.' That's basically what Steinbeck said, too: 'We'll give Swedish people what they want to see.' There's a beautiful scene in the fourth episode when he's talking to these Italian Berlusconi types [Berlusconi was a founder of Mediaset]. That's why we're getting so many trashy TV shows these days.' 'There's a lot of business talk [in the show], so we had to balance it out, making sure there's always something emotional going on underneath,' added Haridi. 'Even if you don't understand exactly what they're talking about in business terms, there's a personal story you can follow. Having these two layers in every scene was the right way to do it.' 'At the end, it really comes down to family, to all of them competing with each other,' observed Kapetanović. 'You win some, you lose some and at the end you wonder: Was it worth it or not?' Best of Variety 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store