Immersive Theater Returns To New York, Placing Audiences In The Middle Of Murderous Plots, Fantastic Creatures And Exotic Locales

Intimate dinners with half-human half-animal creatures and chasing Shakespearian characters across five floors of an imaginary hotel — New York’s immersive theater scene provided audiences with interactive thrills not found at your typical Broadway show. After two long years of being shut down these productions are resurrecting and reinventing themselves for post-pandemic times and according to the people who run them, audiences can’t wait to come return.

Tennessee Williams probably wouldn’t have conducted an interview in a bathtub while wearing a mermaid tail, but it’s a natural environment for Cynthia Von Buhler, whose production The Illuminati Ball has guests having dinner and watching murderous plots unfold with human-animal hybrids, inspired by a famous party thrown by the Rothschilds in France in 1972. “People have been emailing me constantly asking when will we do it again,” says Von Buhler. “I’ve done large versions of it with 1000 people, but for this first one back we’re going to do 60 people so we can really give a personal experience.”

The Illuminati Ball will take place on April 9^th at an undisclosed Manhattan location and Von Buhler chose to incorporate new safety protocols in a fun way. “We’re going to have S&M nurses do COVID tests on everyone before entering the venue. And along with a velvet cloak and an elaborate hand-made mask we will also give them a color-coded face mask they can choose to wear that reflects the ‘animal kinship’ they’ve been placed in for the evening.” Everyone attending will also have to show proof of vaccination and if someone tests positive they will be given a refund. 

Along with safety, productions had to deal with another problem when returning — that many cast and crew members had relocated out of the city. “We started reaching out to people last July,” says Carrie Boyd, Director of Performance for Sleep No More, where audiences follow characters adapted from Shakespeare’s Macbeth over five floors of a fictional film-noir style hotel. “So many people had scattered around the country and internationally. All of our cast are returning members — some from different generations of the show, but a good number from our closing company.”

To make things safer, Boyd says the production team went over every scene and questioned everything before the show reopened on Valentine’s Day. “We asked does this feel ok from an audience perspective? From a cast perspective? There were hundreds of changes, from how we deal with consumable props to how artists physically interact with the guests, but always making sure it didn’t detract from the experience. We also scaled back capacity so people could have more room.” The show opened up at 50% of it’s usual audience and will be working it’s way back to 100% over the next few weeks, giving the production time to observe how things are working. 

In the past audiences at Sleep No More always wore a ‘voyeur’ mask — they will now be given a redesigned version that sits above the KN95 mask they are also required to wear and also show proof of vaccination. “We rehearsed for 4 weeks with the cast wearing KN95 masks and everyone was so great having to do these insane aerobic dances in them,” says Boyd. “At the first dress rehearsal we took them off and it was like magic! We could see faces again and expressions and connections. The show suddenly clicked again.”

While not exactly theater, Juliette Campbell’s Shanghai Mermaid series of soirees also specialize in transporting people to exotic locals and eras. “My crowd loves to get dressed up and look phenomenal,” says Campbell, “they are excited to come and thrilled to be among the living again.” Her Dragon Ball will take place on March 20^th giving guests the experience of a 1930s Shanghai Jazz Age extravaganza, with live bands, burlesque dancers and fire performers. "I think we're living in an extraordinary time. And I think we are in the midst of reinventing what nightlife is, and how we can safely come together to experience art and culture and community."

While many shows are returning some have closed permanently. One favorite, Then She Fell, where 15 guests unlocked rooms and explored a world based on the writings of Lewis Carroll had to shut down. Fortunately some new ones have popped up as well. Bottom of the Ocean in Bushwick caters to an exclusive audience of 5 people per show. And The Woman In Black, a ghost story which takes place in a pub, is running until Feb 27^th in the same building which hosts Sleep No More. 

“It’s been a hard time for theater,” says Von Buhler from her bathtub, “everyone just wants to get back to exciting experiences. Our show is the most immersive you can go to, you really get to have conversations and connections with the cast. We even had one couple who met at our show and got married. My new location is surreal. We have a waterfall, an all-glass room and even a life-size elephant. I want to make it the most amazing event we can.”