Imagine this: You're invited on a press trip to the Santa Monica Mountains... only to encounter a bloodied hiker and discover one of your peers has gone missing. Or, you go to a VIP dinner party at CES and realize your hosts know an unsettling amount of information about you. Or you're at San Diego Comic-Con and stumble across a New Orleans-inspired street filled with people and moments from the early 1900s.
Yes, these are all real moments the BizBash editors have written about. Brands are increasingly leaning into immersive theater—performances that immerse the audience directly into the experience—to add a memorable touch to events. The concept fuses some of the best parts of events, including interactive moments and surprise and delight, to make a big impact.
Scroll down to see some of our favorite immersive theater moments we've covered in recent years...

"The experience was produced with talented improv actors that were cast to portray select archetypes from the slasher subgenre," explained FX's Kenya Hardaway Green. "It allowed us to keep the guests fully engaged without revealing any key characters ahead of the premiere."





![The boxes—which, in addition to food, came equipped with props, themed notes, and other fun elements—were delivered to customers’ doors via an actor posing as a secret agency. When asked what he thinks makes an effective immersive theater experience, founder Josh Sugarman noted that it's different for every attendee—and that’s the point. “The audience has to find the thing that makes it magical for them. Create a world big enough that everybody can go find their special nook and cranny and their moments.” Another key? Commitment to the bit from every staffer on your team. “[At Codename,] everyone gets to make up their own character,” he explained. “These are not necessarily people from the entertainment or theater spaces—they are customer service representatives. On the first day, we say, ‘OK, we need you to come up with a secret agent character,'' he said. “It makes the experience better for the customer at every step.” See more: Meet the New Company Bringing Immersive Theater Events Directly to Consumers' Homes](https://img.bizbash.com/files/base/bizbash/bzb/image/2023/08/DeliveryAgent.60dcaffbd4545.64e66b413d404.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&q=70&w=400)
Another key? Commitment to the bit from every staffer on your team. “[At Codename,] everyone gets to make up their own character,” he explained. “These are not necessarily people from the entertainment or theater spaces—they are customer service representatives. On the first day, we say, ‘OK, we need you to come up with a secret agent character,'" he said. “It makes the experience better for the customer at every step.” See more: Meet the New Company Bringing Immersive Theater Events Directly to Consumers' Homes

To coincide with the game’s biggest-ever update, which lets players inside the Boulton family mansion for the first time, game developer Metacore took over a real-life mansion in Los Angeles on the same day. Described as “part live-action theater, part escape room, and part lore museum,” the live experience featured actors playing in-game characters, who guided guests through the space to find clues, solve puzzles, encounter props related to the game, and even dig their hands in real pies and crawl through a fake fireplace.

"What's so great about the Merge Mansion universe is the lore; there are so many YouTube videos of people with their own theories about what's happening within the game," said Jack Morton Worldwide's Kali Heitholt, who helped produce the experience. "We knew this needed to be something immersive, inclusive, and interactive." See more: How Pedro Pascal—and Some Clever Uses of AI—Brought Guests Inside the Real-Life Merge Mansion


Attendees could tour the street, collect exclusive souvenirs and premiums, and enjoy “The Elixir of Immortality,” a limited-edition mocktail presented by POM Wonderful. The experience was free and open to the public.

Once guests were seated, actress Phylicia Rashad stood up to talk about the magic of theater—and the room began transforming into a vibrant dining hall, with new lighting, staffers delivering centerpieces, a painted backdrop, and chandeliers lowered from the ceiling. “She started asking the stage manager for some sound and some lights and some prop pieces, and as soon as she asked for these things, our stage manager started calling for them over the loudspeaker,” said Lee Doud, the head of events at JJLA, which produced the gala.


“We then unleashed nuns in blue habits throughout Austin,” Fox added. Throughout the festival, spectators could find the nuns “riding a mechanical bull, singing at a piano bar, and biking down the street, encouraging passersby to participate in getting their wings." (The task was a nod to Mrs. Davis’s plot.) See more: SXSW 2023: How Immersive Experiences Ruled at the Austin Fest
