NOW PLAYING: 1986-6-6

A new project is stirring near Culver City this season, with a creative team co-led by creatives who led projects at Niantic, and directed major console games like Star Wars: Battlefront and who have a long history with some experimental experiential gaming.

The team is opening up a workshop preview run of 1986-6-6, a new narrative immersive experience that is billed as “more Steven Spielberg than Stephen King,” set in a the decidedly suspect Shady Valley High School.

We got the team of Co-Creator & Director Giz Gewirtz, Co-Creator Alan Becker, and Producer/Assistant Director/cast member Sonja Roden to fill us in on the project which is giving the Southland a summer preview from August 6-23.

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No Proscenium: Tell us a little bit about your experience! What’s it about? What makes it immersive?

Giz Gewirtz: 1986-6-6 is an interactive, narrative show where participants time travel back to 1986 to attend high school weekend detention. Participants choose which social group they want to join: the Nerds, the Jocks, or the Rebels, and work together to accomplish their social goals, while unraveling a deeper, supernatural mystery threatening the whole school. They interact with the faculty assigned to detention duty: The hard-nosed P.E. Coach, tryhard Guidance Councilor, and mad genius Science Professor. 1986-6-6 is rich with camp and comedy, with a dash of spookiness, celebrating 80’s pop culture in all its awesome glory.

1986-6-6 has a range of immersiveness, depending on how much the participant chooses to engage. On one end participants can get fully invested in their character’s back story and personal goals, living out their ultimate 80’s pop culture fantasy. For those less adventurous, participants can proudly display their “Senioritis” badge and coast through the experience as one of the ‘too cool for school’ kids, just enjoying the rich 80’s high school environment and the narrative propelled forward by the cast.

NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?

GG: We’ve been inspired by a lot of the amazing small group immersive experiences in LA and wanted to bring a unique tone and new stories to this community. As long-time fans of all things immersive, we also wanted to create an experience that was accessible to our friends that have been traditionally intimidated by the type of adventures we leap into. At the same time, we wanted to make something that was designed for repeat visits and had a lot of player agency. Finally, we drew our inspiration from everything 80’s and found so much joy in mashing up 80’s tropes and paying homage to the wackiness and absurdity of all the 80’s movies and TV we grew up with. 

NP: What do you think fans of immersive will find most interesting about this latest experience?

GG: I think immersive fans will appreciate the interconnectedness of the overall experience. We spent a lot of time weaving in side quests and backstory to the history of Shady Valley High School and what is going on. We walk a fine line on the tone of the experience, mostly 80’s camp with a touch of mystery and some heart. This is not a horror experience. More Steven Spielberg than Stephen King. But you can’t do 80’s without celebrating all the supernatural stories they gave us. Lastly, we are hoping 1986-6-6 is the kind of experience immersive fans can take their less adventurous friends to and have a positive, fun experience in this amazing medium.

NP: Once you started designing and testing what did you discover about this experience that was unexpected?

GG: Right off the bat we realized we had too many ideas we were passionate about. The scope of the project was way too ambitious. It took us a long time to let go of some of our ideas and save them for later versions. Playtesting also revealed the truly massive range of different kinds of participants. We were surprised to find that parts of the show we thought were obvious were getting lost on some participants, and parts we thought were challenging were completed easily. The biggest joy came from how playtesters engaged with the actors and the other participants. Even timid playtesters who thought they did not want to engage at the beginning were having meaningful interactions by the end. That was the most unexpected part.

NP: What can fans who are coming to this, or thinking about coming to this, do to get into the mood of the experience?

Alan Becker & Sonja Roden: It can’t hurt to go come in ‘80s inspired clothes or go back and watch some of the classic ‘80s movies and shows. This experience is full of relics, music, and nostalgia – mixed with heavy doses of mystery and humor. We want people to come in ready to enjoy the campiness and charm of the 1980s, ready to embody the tropes and cliches of the time, and ready to help save the world.

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