My companion is standing at an unusual-looking console, filled with knobs and joysticks and dials. Next to her are shelves of evidence — candy bars and soda cans neatly labeled and bagged — as well as a number of maps containing different locations. They’re all related to a top secret project, each location marked with red string and a pin.

As for me, I’m in a VR headset trying to describe what I’m seeing. A dark expanse appears all around me: a Tron-like blue-lined grid.

A giant box suddenly emerges from the floor next to where I’m standing. I take a step back.

It’s…a game?

“What happens if I do this?” my partner asks.

“Hmm, nothing,” I answer.

“OK, still nothing… wait, wait, wait, go back!”

I can suddenly see the results of her actions in my headset. Whatever she’s doing is changing the world I’m seeing. I’ve got one ear in the real world, and another one in VR. The sound of a heartbeat pulses in the background as I focus on the game in front of me.

“Wait, stop! OK, keep doing that!”

I’m holding my breath, trying to navigate a white ball as it falls down a series of chutes onto a target, but the direction of the chutes can only be manipulated by my partner. And she can’t see what I’m seeing in the headset.

“No, too far! Go back!” I shout.

Meanwhile, more and more balls keep falling in VR. My frustration mounts and my adrenaline is pumping.

The clock is ticking. We’re running out of time. Commander Harris will be back at any second, and he’ll demand an update. But I fear we’re no closer to finding Emma than we were at the start of our session.

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Then again, I’m not sure that Emma even wants to be found in the first place.

The fiendishly clever Traitor by Pilot Theatre mashes up elements of an escape room and immersive theatre while also incorporating virtual reality puzzles into its storyworld. The two participants in Traitor are set up as brand new recruits to the Digital Espionage Division; you two are tasked with finding missing teenage operative Emma McCoy by the stern Commander Harris, who does the initial briefing and emphasizes the importance of finding her quickly and quietly. We must avoid information leaks at all costs. (Another character, Agent Miller, is also in the room, acting as a hybrid gamemaster/performer and monitoring the overall situation.)

However, the situation’s not looking too great for the two of us. Our only lead is a backpack Emma left behind, with a mysterious VR game loaded onto on a thumb drive. So, naturally, that’s where the investigation starts. One player puts on the VR headset and describes what they’re seeing, while the other player helps them solve puzzles and look for clues as to her whereabouts within the VR, as the timer counts down. It’s a setup that should feel familiar to anybody who’s played the popular VR game Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.

And while the puzzles themselves in Traitor aren’t terribly difficult to solve, it’s hard to: find a way to describe what you’re seeing in the headset in 3D; figure out how to direct your partner; and translate those instructions into the correct answers when you can’t see your partner nor the button-laden console they control. Anything and everything could be a clue leading you to Emma, but better hurry, because you’re running out of time. Communication becomes difficult in a high-pressure, high-stakes situation, particularly when the two of you know Commander Harris is going to come storming back into the room at any second. And what will you say and do when he returns?

Will you stall? Will you give up Emma? Will you tell the truth or hide it?

I found Traitor to be a unique theatrical adventure for two and quite unlike any other escape room I’ve ever played. The thirty-minute run time seemed to whiz by as we entered a world filled with secret agents, mysterious messages, divided loyalties, subterfuge and deceit, and much more; in fact, the virtual reality content is only a small portion of the espionage-laden world they’ve created, as participants interact with the physical set, electronic devices, and the two actors. And as the story nears its conclusion, participants are given a weighty choice to make: one that can significantly change the course of events in the narrative.

As for us, did we find Emma? It would be spoiling the Traitor experience to say whether or not we did. But I’ll say one thing: I’m proud of our actions and I believe we did the right thing.

Some may call us traitors, but I like to think we turned out to be heroes in the end.

Traitor runs April 26 — May 4 as part of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Immersive Program. Tickets are sold out.

Read our interview with creative producer Lucy Hammond.

View all of our Tribeca Immersive 2019 coverage.

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