Working In The Theatre: Immersive Theatre

This episode of Working in the Theatre was featured in our new book, "American Theatre Wing, an oral history: 100 Years, 100 Voices, 100 Million Miracles." Learn more about the book at a.co/d/9A5qc9a.
Working In The Theatre explores the visceral experience of Immersive Theatre. Randy Weiner (Producer, "Sleep No More"), David Korins (Scenic Designer, "Here Lies Love") and Zach Morris (Co-Artistic Director of Third Rail Projects) describe the staging environment, the state of heightened theatricality, and, the effect of the immersive movement on the audience and its influence on today's theatre scene. (2014)
American Theatre Wing’s Working in the Theatre documentary series features the most fascinating people on the stage, behind the scenes, and in the audience. From Tony Awards® and Obie Awards® winning artists to the next generation of theatre makers, we capture theatre’s inner-workings, industry luminaries, and unique stories that surround important work.
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[@Bashar3A]

3:55 "it's so fun to even just figure out the worlds. You're sort of lost and confused like you're a tourist and you drop in Paris, and you've never been to Paris before." This here is exactly how I felt walking into the Drowned Man. Was the most immersive experience I ever had in my life. I walked onto set, saw a girl walk into a room, and wasn't sure if I'm supposed to follow her or not. They're smart enough to cue you in, without breaking act. She held the door as if planning to go in, in a way that invited me in. Next thing I know I'm in a girl's bedroom, while she's putting makeup. I remember feeling awkward, as if I'm intruding on her life. And then you realize, this is how the entire thing is. You explore what's going on in this world. I walked out that night with a delightful weird feeling I never experienced in my life.

[@makayladonald-saleem8605]

I appreciate how immersive theatre is very interactive. I think that the ability to make the audience truly feel like there apart of and are in the same world and settings is very cool.

[@andresfelipe619]

Theres something to be said about the openness of immersive theater. It seems like a "choose your own adventure" experience. It fails in our culture when you leave it so open that our primed culture, our contemporaries of ill- informed, lazy, sometimes mediocre audience is exposed to this with no understanding of the culture. We have to learn, as artists, as creatives, to meet half way. That's not a debate, that's a simple statement to acknowledge that it's necessary and admired of those that have the patience.

[@romanpoliak1312]

THANK YOU for these videos

[@aaronmeade5435]

That's very true people shouldn't be afraid to make theathre full of interaction and teaming of sets,music and food it gets the blood pumping and the excitement racing

[@FrilledMayfly_AmberlyFerrule]

I've never heard of immersive theatre before, but I'm very very interested. I'm planning on making a marionette hellhound who's gotta pay for terrorizing people by telling stories. I'm seeing this as mostly being for kids, but... just telling stories isn't enough. This character kinda hates his job and when he does get into a story, I love the idea of him kinda stalking around the audience while telling a more intense story or whatever. Something that feels like it could almost be threatening. Now I know what this idea is called, immersive theater!

[@shelleylu3492]

Can you please tell where the cover picture is from?

[@XanderShiller]

Ughh im in nyc how do I audition?

[@paulojamil1893]

As I understand third rail productions they are not really immersive theater, they still play a play with scenes, real immersive theater would be SIGNA from Denmark

[@VisibleMRJ]

So this is half-life Alex but without a VR headset and realistic graphics.

[@jessembs]

This Randy Weiner dude is taking credit for Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle's (+ Livi Vaughn etc etc)'s Sleep No More. He put up the money. He didn't create the show.

[@johnbechtold1274]

Watching Randy Weiner tacitly claim artistic ownership of Punchdrunk's Sleep No More was aggravating to the point of distraction. The only word he uses more often than the phrase "immersive theater" is "I." C'mon ATW - surely you know better! Support and honor the *artists* for their work and the innovations that were theirs for years and years before the producer who swoops in here to market them as his own. I was going to use this as a teaching material but think I need to look elsewhere.

[@VisibleMRJ]

This is Darren Brown but the audience know that everything is fake.

[@raptorman5279]

If we did this in my country the actors would be shot or stabbed :-/ Greetings from sunny South Africa :-D

[@oeu3669]

Raptor Man what on earth are you talking about?! 🙄🤨😏 you were Obvs drunk when you wrote this

[@keerthin146]

OE U nah m8 I’m also from South Africa, it’s true

[@brookeshappening]

Do you guys have haunted houses in South Africa??

[@Helumelowho]

@@brookeshappening yes lol