With the pandemic shutting down many playhouses and theaters, these shows moved online to stay in business and adapt to new social norms.  Now, a murder mystery experiences company is now an option for those team bonding events. What’s even more exciting is that these murder mystery plays offer an amazing, immersive theater experience from the comfort of the participant’s home! For those corporate parties or team building activities, participants can be transported into different narratives across time, such as the late 1800s New York City or 1950s Hollywood. Immersive theater has moved virtual!

Immersive theater differentiates itself from interactive theater by removing the stage. Audiences are then immersed in the performance itself. Audience members can interact with the actors and their surroundings. Immersive theater can be a range of performances, from an actor engaging with the audience once to a complete narrative around audience interaction to the audience’s freedom to drive the story. Also, it engages a person’s five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. Immersive theater is much like an art installation meets a hands-on museum, such as Meow Wolf. Each audience member should feel like they are uniquely part of the show. The immersive shows can direct tasks amongst audience members or by fostering a party-type atmosphere, all activities remain within the narrative.

Immersive theater breaks the “fourth wall,” which is the invisible barrier between the performance on the stage and the audience. Technically called the “proscenium,” this imaginary line is a theater convention where the actors ignore the audience and focus their entire attention on the drama they are performing on stage. Actors disintegrate the “fourth wall” by disrupting this performance convention by engaging with the audience, such as responding to cheers or it is directed/written into the character. In other words, the physical environment of immersive theater is totally different—audience members are expected to interact and even move around during the performance. Much like a ride at Disney World, theater sets are being designed to incorporate the audience interaction, such as resembling a circus tent or a Russian tea room. Audience members might be sipping on a cocktail while sitting next to an actor, who could be playing the Mad Hatter or the White Rabbit.

Movies also use immersive theater—quite frequently, actually. When a camera is used, an actor will look directly into the screen to engage the audience—think as Ferris did in Ferris Buhler’s Day off or Mike Myers in The Love Guru. Actors interact with the audience by looking straight at the camera and talking straight to them. While only for a few moments, this immersive aspect where the on-screen character engages with the audience makes them feel involved in the narrative.

Digital immersive theater takes a similar approach since the actors engage the audience through their device cameras. While digital immersive theater is relatively new, its popularity has skyrocketed during the pandemic as a safe way to watch and participate in theater from the comfort of your home. While immersive theater traditionally would accommodate only a small group of people, virtual settings enable both small groups and large group gatherings. Now more than ever, virtual immersive theater is the go-to activity for a fun corporate event, celebration, or company party.

In the past, a typical corporate event may have involved a company-sponsored picnic or a day at a sporting event for team building experiences. With the onset of the pandemic, companies are looking for new ways to engage businesses that offer services virtually and yet are a blast. More companies than ever have shifted to their employees working from home and teleworking so in-person events are no longer mainstream. Apps such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams are now the main platform that many companies use for meetings, team building activities, and social events. An unexpected yet fortunate and ingenious side effect of the pandemic was the rise of virtual events, which enables companies to have a whole menu of fun activities to choose from for their team building activities—even a murder mystery experiences company show! 

One of the best digital, immersive theater experiences is with Live In Theater. A murder mystery experiences company, Live In Theater offers award-winning immersive theater for its clientele. Live In Theater created immersive theater by removing the stage or a specific location from the performance. It allows audience members to interact with their environments, albeit virtually. Now the space is reimagined through digital interactions, which involves breakout rooms for brainstorming sessions and closer interaction with important characters. Participants get to work together to solve historically-researched murder mysteries. 

Audience members take to the streets in the unsolved, real-life murders in The Ryan Case of 1873 and The Lombardi Case 1975. They may become rookie detectives that interrogate possible suspects, all the while playing colorful characters such as junkies, hustlers, pimps, and more. Participants may find themselves in the Carolinas as a hoity-toity, upper-class member attending the fancy, elite River Crossing Book Club; or as a “nobody,” a budding yet struggling actor who was just hired at Summit Pictures in La La Land (aka 1950s Hollywood). Audience members get to be transported back in time to play key roles our murder mysteries and try to solve the perhaps unsolvable. We shall see how smart your smarts really are! 

Live In Theater provides a unique, fun, playful, and safe environment for your next teambuilding or party activities. We can host groups from 10 to 300 virtually and our plays last from 75 to 120 minutes depending on audience size. Ask us for more information about hosting your next corporate event or book today!