The best immersive theater in NYC
When it comes to theater, who says you have to just sit and watch? Immersive theater, which puts you right in the middle of the action—and often draws you in to participate—is increasingly popular in New York City. Whereas most Broadway shows still follow the traditional proscenium-arch model, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions like the long-running Sleep No More and Then She Fell break down the barriers between actors and spectators, letting you follow your own paths in unconventional spaces. To help you navigate the maze of options, here is our list of the city's best immersive and interactive shows.
RECOMMENDED: Best Broadway shows
Immersive Theater in NYC
Sleep No More
A New York institution since 2011, Punchdrunk’s dark, sleek, gorgeous installation is awe-inspiring in both its size and detail. Silent audience members in creepy white masks are set free in a six-floor labyrinth of wonders, while roving attractive actor-dancers plays out enigmatic scenes inspired by Macbeth and Hitchcock. There are more than 90 different spaces to explore, ranging from a candy shop to a cemetery. There’s no way to absorb it all in a single visit, but that’s all right. You’ll want to go back anyhow.
Say Something Bunny!
Alison S.M. Kobayashi leads us on a journey to another time in her interactive multimedia docuplay, based on real 65-year-old audio recordings of a teenage boy in Queens and his family and neighbors. The experience of the show is light, sweet, funny and dear. But Kobayashi’s deep humanism has a way of moving you, even days later.
Then She Fell
Third Rail Projects' interactive psych-ward riff on Lewis Carroll’s Alice books, performed for just 15 people at a time on three floors of a church building in Williamsburg, uses a style similar to that of Sleep No More. But here, when you peer into the looking glass, it stares right back at you; the experiences offered by director-designer Zach Morris and his company are stunningly personal.
Accomplice
Tom and Betsy Salamon’s unique adventure—part interactive theater, part scavenger hunt, part walking tour—draws participants into an amusing web of puzzles and intrigue. You can choose between the three-hour New York tour, which takes participants through various neighborhoods of lower Manhattan, or the two-hour Village tour, which travels through quirky Greenwich Village on Saturdays. Groups of as many as 11 are booked every half hour.
A Spirited History of Drinking: The Musical Comedy
Imagine Bill Nye the Science Guy as a bartender who is deeply interested in the history of alcohol, really likes wigs and costumes, and just joined a coed barbershop quartet. Mixing whimsy and information, Anthony Caporale's show makes the story of our relationship with booze remarkably compelling—and its lessons can be washed down with thematically appropriate beverages.
Drunk Shakespeare
An actor drinks heavily (in the vein of Comedy Central's Drunk History) and then tries to corral others into enacting a story by the Bard. Bibulous excess is encouraged. [Not yet reviewed.]
The Mortality Machine
At this intimate dance-theater experience, set in a Chinatown basement, spectators play the roles of family members investigating the deaths of their loved ones in a shady 2014 medical experiment. The piece is a collaboration between writer Ryan Hart, designer Tommy Honton and choreographer Lara Mancin. [Not yet reviewed.]
