Stringed instruments (2025)
We were honored to be invited to the 2025 Los Angeles Immersive Invitational with seven other immersive groups: Cherry Poppins ∙ Dr3am Logikk ∙ Last Call Theatre ∙ Meanwhile… netprov Studio ∙ The Queen’s Fools ∙ Spies Among Us and Spy Brunch – and we all had fewer than 48 hours to create a 10-minute immersive experience given a theme (music), random genre (for us, electronica), space (for us, a long hallway and backstage green room at the LGBT Center in Hollywood) and a prop (we picked a pink bike light).
We had a cast of two, Abigail Corrigan and Tiffany Ogburn–plus Rachel Adams of the Immersive Art Collective as production and audio designer. These three put in A LOT of effort that we cannot praise enough.
We are overwhelmed, ecstatic, and grateful that our vignette, Stringed Instruments, received both the Audience Choice Award and tied for the Judges’ Choice Award (with Spies Among Us)! We have a deep cut explanation of the process on our blog here.
Reviews
“Stringed Instruments” was a work that left the audience without a closing moment of wish fulfillment. There was no uprising, no quitting, and that empty future seemed the way forward. And yet there was a sense of comfort in its monotony, the simple act of hunting for items on a desk and directing an actor creating a sense of calmness that sought to raise questions surrounding the ways in which we unjustly acquiesce.
-Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times
The most striking interactivity, in part for its simplicity, was Spectacular Disaster Factory’s “Stringed Instruments”, in which we traipsed through an endless corridor of throbbing EDM to a backstage area of a “night club,” where two “bottle service girls” sat in front of mirrors. Each had strings attached to their elbows and wrists, and the audience was left to puzzle out our own role as marionette puppeteers, as the actors intoned what they wanted (“makeup. hairbrush. photograph.”) in monotone voices and allowed us to literally steer their bodies in a 10-minute meditation on agency, gender, money, and power. While most of the other rooms had us talking to the actors, this room gave us a simple mechanism, and tasked us to literally embody them. The effect was lyrical and dark.”
--Brian Sonia-Wallace, ArtsBeat LA
I cannot stop thinking about your piece…it really made me feel emotional. It’s too soon to fully digest the experience, but I know it’s one I’ll continue to ponder and appreciate, so thank you. –Natalie L.
Really really beautiful work. –Graham W.
It was definitely my favorite and when we finished it was the only one people wanted to talk about. –Alex K.
Absolutely loved this piece! –Kyle T.
Can’t stop thinking about it. –Tommy H.
Really affecting, especially with a such a wide tonal dynamic range. –MikeLBC
Really cool experience. –Timsmyname
It was terrific! –Jmjlaca
It was a great show! –Nikkithayer
