♪♪ Woman: Performing in an immersive work is either a performer's worst nightmare or their greatest fantasy.

♪♪ Woman #2: People are tired of being yelled at in these spaces, and they want to just explore things, and they want to forget about the outside world, and they don't want to have their phone on them.

Man: There's a delight and surprise of opening a door in a space, and expecting to see something on the other side, and it's absolutely not that thing.

Man #2: It's a little bit of world-building.

You're stepping into a different world.

It's a fun thing, then, for -- for an audience members to tell their friends, "And then we did this."

"And then, we did this."

"And then, this happened."

You have this thing that you can take away, like that.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Martens: "From On High" in as '80's immersive corporate experience.

We invite audiences to the show, and when they arrive they are immediately promoted to level three of this corporation called "Banner."

And Banner is a massive '80's conglomerate that is focused on productivity and profit over all else.

Please show me your favorite dance moves, such as this.

Roberts: You get to discover what this means, to be in this company, at level three, with all of these new employees that you've never interacted with before.

You'll get to see all of their different individual tracks, and what's happening in their individual lives, but also what's happening collectively, on this level, and what it means to be an employee here.

It has been an honor to devote myself to our founder and C.E.O.

's vision, and I am just so thrilled to incorporate you into this family off.

Duggan: Creating "From On High" and this corporate experience, we're really tapping into this moment of questioning office culture, and questioning work, and questioning why we're going to a building and sitting at a desk for so many hours a week for so many years of our lives.

It allows people to really connect to it in a different way, and think about how it reflects on their lives after the show is over.

♪♪ Murphy: "From On High" is in Denver, Colorado.

And more specifically, "From On High" takes place in the RiNo Arts District, which traditionally has a history of programing more visual street art, fine arts.

♪♪ And so, the show very specifically is in this iconic building called the iMac Building, which has a pretty colored history of starting out as the Robinson Dairy ice cream plant.

And then, it became a meatpacking plant, and then, most recently, was a cheese and dairy bacteria culture facility.

♪♪ Duggan: This building is so specific to what it was used for before.

And I think part of the immersive component, the immersive process, is looking at the building that you're moving into, and really trying to honor it, really trying to embrace it, and weave it into the story that you're making.

♪♪ Martens: In spaces this large and cavernous, there's a lot going on, and a lot of spaces.

And so, we like to tell a lot of our emotional journey through movement.

And we capture that in heightened places, on top of tables, inside of weird structures.

♪♪ In a live event like this, where there's up to 70 people in a space and you can't have that one-on-one conversation, it serves us to go into a larger form.

And by using movement, we can express more feeling and more information to people.

♪♪ Roberts: I often describe it as dance theater, immersive theater.

A lot of words.

But just to be very specific, because I think that there's a lot of things that come from the acting side, from the musical side, maybe from the dance side.

And this is coming specifically from acting and dancing.

♪♪ Duggan: The movement that we're creating, we're really trying to use the office vocabulary, and then abstract it, and turn it into contemporary vocabulary that helps us go from a real place of, you know, "I sit at my desk and I write on this paper," to that movement becoming so much bigger and so much more expansive.

And then, from there, the movement is then allowed to express feeling in a very abstract way -- which dance does.

♪♪ Murphy: There's something about, I think, if you can connect to somebody through physical movement, you're tapping into such a deep, like, evolutionary place of understanding.

It's very visceral.

And I think the emotional connection that can happen can be much more vibrant, and much more impactful.

♪♪ Roberts: I think to be a performer in immersive theater is to be a little bit of an adrenaline junkie.

I've never done anything as simultaneously thrilling and terrifying as immersive theater.

♪♪ You can rehearse every single moment in the show, but as soon as the audience comes in, it's a completely different game.

And what any audience member does from night to night is gonna change everything.

So, you have this element that you absolutely cannot control, and, as a performer, you've got to be all right with that.

♪♪ Murphy: For me, this art form was a beautiful combination of dance, and movement, and acting, but also a true, like, psychological practice of really working with people, and working with strangers, and bringing them into this type of work.

♪♪ Martens: I would love it if someone comes in not really expecting someone who's not used to immersive theater, doesn't really know what it's about, or feels a little trepidation about giving over, and interacting with people, that they come in, and their shoulders drop, and that they decide to say "yes" to the game.

They lean in, they become part of the universe.

And then, I think, in a -- in a perfect world, they -- they see their own work life in this, and they see the kind of chaos that people are willing to go to and lean into for success, or fame, or any level of just... keeping up with the Joneses.

♪♪ Duggan: I think some of the prominent themes that we're really working with are commitment and devotion to something outside of yourself, and where you strike that balance with your own identity.

So, we're working a lot with how you sacrifice things to a larger entity, how you analyze your day-to-day life, and what you're doing, and why you're doing it, and just sort of putting those questions out there, so that people have an opportunity to consider them, and hopefully bring them to their daily lives outside of the show.

Murphy: If they can take this experience, and apply it back to their own life, and back to the pieces of their life that maybe they've been ignoring or putting to the backburner so that work can happen.

I know that I do this a lot, especially in making this.

I've experienced a lot of, "Oh, I'm doing this right now."

But I think that there's value to using art to reflect back on the way in which we ignore our own health and wellness.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Everett: Meow Wolf was born in 2008, when a group of artists came together that were kind of not really finding a home in the traditional gallery art model.

They rented a warehouse, and started making art together.

Before we built our first permanent installation opening in 2016, Meow Wolf had built 26 large-scale installations around the United States, eventually becoming burnt out on building these massive things, and then tearing them down again, and, like, "How do we do this and not tear it down?"

So, yeah, the kind of model for what we do today was born.

♪♪ Gassien: Meow Wolf's Convergence Station is truly a flagship for the company.

It is something that they've never tried before, which is 90,000 square feet of immersive entertainment.

It is just everything that you can pack into a building, with over 150 contributing artists just from the Denver scene alone, or from the Colorado scene.

It is just a spectacular place to be in.

♪♪ Everett: And today, we have an incredibly talented team of artist curators who are essentially the first on the ground in any community we're gonna build in, making connections with the arts community, kind of trying to find the hidden gems within that community, as well as the kind of art stars.

That also happened in Denver.

We spent a lot of time here in the city before we even broke ground on the building, to make connections within the community, to opening with our, I think initially, 120 artists or so.

As the years go by, were continually looking for new opportunities to bring new artists into this space, and keep this as a space that belongs to the art community of this city.

Gassien: Denver works as a venue for this just because we had a really good partnership with a lot of artists that were already in the scene.

And the Denver art scene is just an amazing place to be in.

I think there is so much creativity and so much that the city of Denver in general wants to actually put back into the community.

So, they have a really strong arts program, and making sure that there's publicly funded arts, but also just that they take care of artists.

♪♪ -I truly love to say the experience here is to honestly just expect the unexpected.

We keep it different every day.

There's a little bit of unique things that'll happen every day that makes the experience unique every time that you come in.

My goal with my team is to make sure that people want to keep coming back, and to keep finding new ways to explore the space, and to say, "Oh, I didn't see that, and I want to see it."

And "I want to come back."

And -- And what new crazy things can we do?

♪♪ Everett: When it comes to the narrative, we were very inspired by the community we built in because we like to be very aware of kind of where we are in our communities.

And Sun Valley, which is where this building exists, is among the most diverse immigrant communities in Denver.

And so, we wanted to respond to that.

And so, we created a story of kind of immigration in our narrative, as well, with all of these diverse peoples coming together to create a new community together.

♪♪ Gassien: The story behind the narrative of Convergence Station is that, 27 years ago, there was a cosmic event that occurred that caused four worlds to converge.

And the Quantum Department of Transportation -- or QDOT -- as I'm so aptly presented here, has created a transmonic rift access mechanism, or a TRAM, that can actually take you into the converged worlds.

So, when you enter Convergence Station, you're entering into this transit station that allows you to travel to these alien worlds.

♪♪ All art, when it's done well, is immersive -- all of it.

Right?

A great book, you're lost in it.

The outside world is gone.

So, do we strive to make immersive art?

Yes.

But additionally, we make this comprehensive art that encloses you, and totally... put you in a new world separate from our mundane world.

♪♪ It breaks you free from your expectations and your assumptions.

And so, therefore, you become available, and vulnerable, and present.

And what better way to connect people to their own creativity, and the power of their creativity, so that, when they leave our exhibit, ideally they feel empowered to... connect with and reimagine this immense... powerful, immersive experience we've all created together, which is this world, and the stories we tell in it every day.

♪♪ Gassien: I love to talk to travelers after they've been through, and say, "Okay, how are we doing?

Let's check in.

How are you feeling?"

And I think the number one comment that I get is just it's mind-blowing, and a little overwhelming, which I also think is a great thing.

And I want it to be a little too much.

And I think that, you know, that's kind of what also keeps people coming back, because they have this bite-sized chunk, and they're like, "Okay, I feel discombobulated.

And now I need to come back, and kind of explore another area."

It's just, every nook and cranny is so packed full of... creativity, and art, and just amazing experience that we want you to come back, and we want you to be overwhelmed, and then, we want you to keep exploring, and figuring out new places to just fall in love with.

♪♪ Everett: That is the power of immersive art, right, is allowing people to become available, and to potentially tap in to spaces within themselves that don't generally get much attention.

And so, we're empowering people to realize the power of their creativity, whether they think they're an artist or not.

We are all creators.

We all create the stories of our lives and our relationships with other people.

And there is so much art around us, it just takes us recognizing that.

♪♪ Gassien: My mom loves to touch stuff.

She goes into museums all the time, and is like, "Oh, look at this," and gets yelled at constantly.

And I think that, you know, a place like this, the Convergence Station, is just, immediately, you forget time and space exist, and you have that ability to disconnect from the outside world.

We've had people that came out of here, and they were like, "I've been here for seven hours, and I had no idea."

And you're like, "That's exactly what we want."

We want you to forget just the shit that's outside this world right now.

And we want you to find a space where you feel comfortable getting lost, and you feel comfortable in just being a kid again, and finding that connection back with your creativity, and having a room that reminds you of something, and, all of a sudden, now, you're unlocking something that you've forgotten.

♪♪ ♪♪ Hi.

I'm David Byrne.

Both: And I'm David Byrne.

All: And I'm David Byrne.

♪♪ Byrne: Many decades ago, I became a big fan of, I guess what you might call "experimental theater" or theater that was kind of pushing the boundaries of what theater could be.

From the experience of my world, that I come out of music concerts, and things like that, which are kind of immersive, in a way.

So, I thought, "Oh, it's not so different."

♪ The theater of the mind ♪ ♪ The theater of the mind ♪ Miller: David Byrne is a true renaissance man.

He is an incredible artist.

He's a brilliant artist.

And it seems very fitting that he's chosen immersive theater as a form, now, because it allows him to bring together all these different artistic interests, intellectual interests, scientific curiosities, into one space that the audience can experience, where his story can really drive us through, and have a deep and meaningful impact on audiences.

We'll bend your mind through a series of experiences.

You'll see... -Feel... -Hear.. -[Muffled] And taste...

Using real neuroscience phenomena.

You don't know what you'll find in the theater of the mind.

♪♪ This show is a theatrical experience based on the work of a lot of neuroscientists.

So, it's based on some science.

And there's a story.

Audience groups of 16 are led through a series of rooms by a guide, who is an actor.

And this guide is trying to discover something about their own past.

And we see that a lot of perceptual -- a lot of our perception is unreliable.

A lot of our memories are unreliable, and malleable, and change.

And by the end, you kind of get to a place where... the guide realizes, you know, that's okay.

Boisvert: Technology supports the show in a couple of different ways.

First and foremost, it supports the science, to ensure that it's accurate.

And then, secondly, we have built a custom show control system to drive all of the lights, the sounds, all of the motor controls, the Internet of things that you can't see.

But I think what's most exciting, or was the most challenging to build, was really what I would call, like, our "nervous system."

Like, how do we get all of these things to talk to each other across a vast amount of space within this 15,000 square foot warehouse, and to try to seamlessly kind of pull that off across all of the various departments, like lights and sound.

So, I feel like that nervous system, in a way, almost kind of, like, mirrors, you know, this deep dive into our brains.

♪♪ Miller: It felt like a really good fit for Denver.

They were looking for a theater that could help premiere the show, and -- and mount a very big and complex project.

We have an amazing team here in Denver who's able to pull off really complicated projects at a high level.

And we have the audience here that loves it.

So, it was a perfect fit.

We were thrilled to have the opportunity.

And the New York team was thrilled to be able to partner with us to make this show a reality.

Cashion: For the immersive art, I think there's a sense of adventure in Denver that is really exciting for people.

People maybe think, "Oh, people in Colorado are adventurous.

They want to go climb a mountain, or they want to go, you know, rafting, or whatever."

But maybe they also want to come and have an immersive theatrical experience while they're here.

♪♪ Scoville: I think, when audiences come, they're gonna be wowed by some of this science phenomena.

And part of that is gonna be their ability to participate in it.

The rooms create the conditions that are necessary for this phenomena to occur for every individual person.

And so, I think that will be a unique experience, in that the immersion is not just around you, but the immersion is actually -- goes inside of you, as well.

♪♪ Miler: I'm really excited about how much agency we can give an audience in immersive theater, and how they can have a meaningful role in this story, and meaningfully influence the outcome of the experience.

Obviously, it can be very individual, and I love that.

And I love that it's multi-sensory, and that it happens all around you.

But for me, the most exciting part of immersive is the audience agency, and how the audience can meaningfully interact with the story, and play a role in the story.

♪♪ Byrne: I've been kind of trying to figure out how to do this show for a long time.

And of course, you do workshops, and little test versions, and this, and every time, you learn what works and what doesn't work.

We learned that audiences like things that they experience directly rather than things that they... where the conclusion is an aggregate.

In this scientific-- in the... science literature, the result is significant because, say, 60% or 70% of an audience made a certain kind of decision.

That doesn't work in the theater.

In the theater, it's got to be 100%.

Every audience member has to pretty much experience the same thing, understand the words, understand what's going on.

So, we learned that.

♪♪ Boisvert: My interests in immersive, or sort of bringing people into physical spaces, stems from, like, many years of working in emerging technology, and creating, like, video games and mobile apps, and web interactive experiences.

And I started to feel as though we were completely disconnected for our bodies.

So I started to feel like we need to bring people into physical spaces, in an embodied way, to interact with other humans, to have a human experience.

And so, I think what excites me about immersive is that it blends a whole host of different disciplines, from storytelling, to theater, to games that also have to come together, from art, and science, and technology, and design, and storytelling.

And I think that's what is so exciting, the interdisciplinarity of it, and its ability to reconnect us to our bodies and to one another.

♪♪ Scoville: I think people are really craving community and connection.

Immersive theater allows you to step inside of the action.

And I think there's more and more of a desire for things that feel like they fully take you over, or that you're stepping into a dream, or something that is a little separate from your reality.

We hope, by the end, that they walk away with a sense of community with their group, that they walk away with a sense of wonder about the complex human experience, and all the things that make up our reality.

♪♪ Cashion: For me, if you have those kinds of connections with people, where you're sitting this close, you can really -- you can really learn something about yourself.

And then, you can take that out into the world with, you know, who you become.

I've always wanted to leave the world a little better than we found it.

And maybe, um, maybe this art form is -- is sort of a couple of our generations melding together to help create that in the immersive world.

♪♪ Duggan: Immersive, I think, is really important right now because it's asking people to shake out of their routines, and their lives, and really, like, contribute to this active, live thing that's happening in front of them.

Roberts: At its core, immersive theater is not about the story.

It's not about the characters.

It's about the connection.

♪♪ I think, in many ways, we're losing touch with interpersonal connections, and interpersonal relationships.

In the ancient civilizations, stories were always told, stories were always shared, and they always happened person to person.

And so, I think right now, more than ever, people are craving this type of engagement, because I think it's lacking in so many other areas of their lives.

♪♪ Everett: We're interested in making art that is available to the billionaire as the minimum-wage worker, both financially and spiritually.

There's no exclusive experience of the art that we make.

It's here for everyone.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪