From the creators of Creep LA — this writer’s personal favorite haunt of 2016 — comes The Willows, a 2.5-hour immersive theater piece set within the sinister secrets of the eponymous family. And when we say immersive, we mean it. Audience members will be fully engaged with multiple characters, and may find themselves having an entirely different experience than even those they came with.
The whole ordeal begins with an invitation to a dinner party hosted by the Willows family at their home. At the prescribed time, guests will meet up at a corner near Koreatown. Up to 18 guests will be attending the dinner, and all of them are chauffeured from that corner to a nearby home. For many immersive theater fans, this will not be the first time they are ordered into a van, blindfolded and taken to a second location. Those who completed The Tension Experience may be relieved to know that it’s a much shorter ride, and all passengers get out at the same time.
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Once at the home, the Willows move to greet their guests with varying degrees of excitement, and they’re a peculiar bunch. Among them are Rosemary, the matriarch; Ricky, the jovial uncle; Conrad, the troubled cousin; Angela, the brooding sister; and the poised Claudia, whose relation to the rest will become more apparent as she continues to indulge in pre-dinner cocktails. Deirdre, an overly anxious maid, and Lindsey, the home’s prim butler, round out the ensemble. The house, with its broad staircase meant for grand entrances, makes it clear that the Willows come from affluence. While guests are not allowed to roam the home with complete autonomy, there are options. You can head immediately into the lounge for a cocktail or glass of wine, or you can choose to first head upstairs to set down your coat and bag. Should you need to use the restroom, Lindsey will direct you to the proper facilities. You can’t stray too far, but you can look around. You’ll notice that the home feels lived in, and that’s largely because it is. When not haunted by The Willows, it is the permanent residence of an actual family.
Once the pleasantries have been taken care of, guests and family members begin to mingle. Pieces of a grim story and the reason why you’ve been summoned begins to emerge. It has the framework of a murder mystery, but it’s much more subtle than that. It’s not about finding clues or sleuthing; this isn’t an escape room. It’s about catching a whisper or cozying up to a character for a secret, then sharing it with your fellow guests — or perhaps not, that’s your choice.
As the evening progresses, the dinner party does happen, and there is food. It’s not a huge meal — cheese, crackers, bread, charcuterie and a vegan soup — but it’ll soak up the free-flowing wine. Depending on where you sit at the table, you’ll learn different things. You’ll be luckiest if you have a companion at the opposite end with whom you can compare notes later. Dinner is followed by other family rituals, which escalate in strangeness throughout the night. We’d hate to spoil them for you, so we won’t. We will tell you that though Creep made their mark with a haunted maze around Halloween of 2015, don’t expect The Willows to get under your skin with jump scares. This is more of a slow, building eeriness that escalates with time.
The Willows’ best asset is its cast. There isn’t a weak actor among them, and each is skilled at carrying on improvised conversation. And while there is a main story and a final reveal, there must be at least half a dozen, if not more, unique tracks that reveal the nuances of each character and their motivations. For instance, I personally spent a significant chunk of the experience with sister Angela, expertly played by Noelle Urbano, in a separate room from the rest of the party. She remembered the things we’d discussed, and she referenced them later. There were moments here where I felt like I had truly disembarked from reality, which rarely happens for me.
That said, if you are a person who wants to know everything about a particular narrative, a single showing of The Willows will not satisfy you unless you are able to talk extensively with your fellow attendees. Though you are encouraged to chat with the family, there are certain lines of questioning that will result in a vague dismissal, as though you’ve just asked a host in Westworld something about computers. In one scene, I found a piece of a puzzle, but never made it to the room where its answer was held. It’s not clear if all the questions I have about what happened could be answered by multiple showings, or if they’re lost forever in the ether of the Willows’ weirdness. There is also one audience member per show who will receive a featured role, and if you’re not that person, you’re going to be wondering about that one-on-one for days. (I wasn’t that person. I’m still curious.) Yet the beauty of these immersive experiences, and an area in which The Willows succeeds, is that they often foster conversation among even the most socially awkward. You’ll likely want to head to the nearest watering hole and debrief with your fellow guests.
Tickets for The Willows are $125 a piece, which may seem high, despite the fact that they literally wine and dine you. Yet given the intimacy of the experience and time spent with actors, you are paying for a very unique show with a dedicated cast. Tickets are also currently sold out, but will be released periodically over time. Registering online here is your best bet to secure an invitation to The Willows’ table.
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