Delusion is an immersive and interactive horror theater experience, and this year’s Delusion: Harrowing of Hell is a new chapter that promises an unforgettable experience with twists and terror, leaving guests questioning reality itself. With the new location at the Variety Arts Theater, expect a spooky good time. (I still remember experiencing the immersive and interactive Purge show, and that theater was used to great effect.)

The upcoming show will run from September 18th through November 9th on select nights. Tickets are now on sale starting at $112.99 on select nights at enterdelusion.com.

I can’t say it or hear it enough. There really is nothing in the world like Delusion. And after this season, Delusion will be the longest-running immersive theater experience in the world (go ahead and fact check me but it’s a waste of your time!),” said Creator of Delusion Jon Braver. “In the end, we are all about ADVENTURE! So come join us for another otherworldly experience (and see this new creature you will never, ever forget).

Synopsis: This season, “Delusion: Harrowing of Hell” explores a supernatural cult that has taken the metaphors of Dante’s Inferno too far. Convinced that the circles of hell are a necessary preparation for the afterlife, the Devotees of the Path claim to be conduits between worlds and guardians over the gates of hell. Will you follow the inscription on the arched entryway leading to the belly of the Pagan’s Path and abandon all hope? To take the Path is to endure a reflection of mortal weakness and sin. If one can survive, then paradise awaits.

The newly added upgrade experience, The Delusional: Devil in the Details, will have guests seeing the behind-the-scenes experience, including seeing up close the transformation of characters, creatures and set design. The add-on includes a backstage tour, VIP venue entrance, reserved lounge area and a collectible credential.

Delusion is located at the Variety Arts Theater, 940 S Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90015

The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor

The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor: Summoned by the Seas will terrorize guests in Long Beach from September 19th to November 2nd on select nights, with tickets starting at $45.99. Guests can expect to see Dark Harbor’s monsters, mazes, live entertainment, speakeasies, and haunted lounges.

Check out the list and official descriptions of Dark Harbor mazes below:

Voodoo: The Queen’s Curse – New! A ruthless Priestess rises from a decayed bayou to seize the Queen Mary’s power, commanding Loa, raising the dead, and marking anyone who strays too close. Stumble through potion shops, coffin factories, and poppet-stuffed shacks before a barnstorming finale where lightning crackles overhead and zombie sailors surge below.

Breakout: Maximum Security – reimagined for 2025! The mystery of stateroom B340 takes a brutal turn in 1948: Samuel the Savage survives and is hauled to a seaside village prison, until he shatters his cell with unnatural force. You’re processed as the new inmate while alarms scream, guards fall, and Samuel hunts. Can the walls hold him… or you?

Feast: The Final Cut – reimagined for 2025! Step behind the ship’s kitchens for the twisted origin of The Chef, once a handsome, ambitious butcher who grew resentful of first-class passengers and added a “special ingredient” no one could quite place. Winding deeper, you’ll hit blood-slick restrooms, a pantry stacked with plates… and body parts, before the stoves roar to life and victims simmer. This is the final year of Feast, reimagined with a more cannibalistic climax that leads to a grotesque classroom banquet.

Big Top Terror – Step right up to a cursed carnival where the Ringmaster, no longer man nor woman, bartered their soul for immortality and now feeds a fog-soaked circus that traps the unwary.

Infirmary – A maniacal surgeon, Dr. Edwin Masters, and his accomplice Graceful Gale prey on the ship’s most vulnerable, masquerading as high-society darlings topside while their victims pile up below.

Lullaby – In the glow of the first-class swimming pool, Scary Mary returns, playful giggles masking a vortex to the underworld that’s grown too powerful to contain. Born from a 1952 tragedy, Mary once tugged sleeves to keep the living away; now the rift’s demons twist her into the singer of your final lullaby.

Other fun activities include Pirate’s Plunder Shootout, Anchor Axe, a mini escape room, S’mores Package, and carnival rides.

The Foresight Four Pack premium experience includes The Summoning of Samuel séance with Lady Mabel and access to the speakeasies throughout Dark Harbor.

The RIP Guided Tour includes early entry, front-of-the-line privileges, and a personal guide to escort you through all six mazes and into the exclusive sanctums: Observation Deck and Captain’s Club.

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The show will debut during Hollywood Fringe in Los Angeles on Friday, June 6. Tickets are available on Hollywood Fringe’s URTV: Pasion Mansion page, and it opens on select nights until Saturday, June 28, 2025.

In UR TV: Passion Mansion, you are the protagonist in the story, and all the characters that you meet will be giving you different tasks in order to progress the story. However, these tasks involve making interactive choices, and they’re not necessarily yes or no choices. There are infinite possibilities where you can say anything, and the actor will take what you say and improvise something for you. This includes games and puzzles.

“So for this show, you’re playing a production assistant on set of a fictional reality TV show,” Baltazar tells Nerd Reactor. “You are given this job by the producers who are characters in the show. You have to play, or you have to manipulate the contestants in order to do your job, but then there are consequences because of that. For this show, we actually try to make it a lot more easy to consume at first in that we have a mix of proscenium scenes and non-proscenium. So you start out sitting in a like a live studio audience as if you’re about to watch a show, and then you’re told, ‘What are you doing?'”

Brit has something big cooking up for Passion Mansion next year, with ambitious plans for guests to participate inside an actual mansion on a 6-hour experience.

“I want it to be like at least the six hour event,” the creator said. “It might end up being like a whole thing. Six hours. Yeah, because you go to the mansion, there’s so much to do. In that world, you don’t have to rush so much. You can come with friends and you can be drinking, be by the pool and get to party more with the contestants. There are actually drinking games in the show. Okay, all right. We have a sponsor that I can’t talk about yet but it is related to drinking.”

You can check out the video interview to hear more details on what Baltazar is planning with the URTV universe and Passion Mansion.

Tickets are available at the Hollywood Fringe URTV: Passion Mansion Page.

About URTV: Passion Mansion

Synopsis: Passion Mansion is a bold new interactive play that’s set in a heightened version of our own world. It’s a parody universe (or is it?) that worships the screen, offering players as sacrifices for the machine, aka the Television. The show was born in the flashy grit of Los Angeles’ entertainment industry, and will receive a baptism by fire in the 2025 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Which is all to say, LA is the only place that can stage the spirit of Passion Mansion. It was while attending a speed dating event in this very city, that the idea came to the show’s creator Brit Baltazar. Such a gathering set against the backdrop of The Times We Live In eventually brought to mind the cultural phenomenon that is reality television -specifically dating competition shows. These shows serve as collective guilty pleasures, ones we indulge in the melodramas of to forget the horrors of our real world. But this inevitably calls into question the “reality” that is presented in reality TV. How real can you get when you’re helping people forget? And what is the cost of maintaining the illusion?

For Passion Mansion, the goal is to bring the audience into this reality. The choose-your-own-adventure format gives audience members, “production assistants”, a say in the typically engineered narrative of a reality television show. Eventually, by unlocking special plot points through their decisions, they can uncover the traumatic and unethical horrors that take place behind the scenes of this scene. In a world ruled by money, industry bigwigs commodify hot & horny people’s lives for entertainment in exchange for fame and success. It’s ultimately up to the audience to either support or retaliate against this toxic system.

Creator: Brit Baltazar

Lead Writer: Danny Hanna

Co-Directors: Brit Baltazar & Riley Cole

Narrative Team: Brit Baltazar, Carolyn Bradley, Ladonna Craelius, Danny Hanna, Chess MacElvaine, Tessa O’Bryan, Morgan Smalley, and Linnea Swanson

RUNTIME: 2 Hours

RECOMMENDED AGE: 18+

GENRE: Sex Comedy/Romance/Drama

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Last Call Theatre’s previous productions have many different outcomes, allowing guests to shape the ending based on their interactions with the characters. For example, in Pirates Wanted, our crew of wannabe pirates were able to uncover a truth that changed the lives of the characters forever.

Worlds Collide is taking it a step further with an improvised mashup of previous Last Call Theatre shows that is drawn from a hat. These past shows have been unique in its settings and stories, which ranges from period settings to cyberpunk. Imagine what would happen if these worlds collide, complete with props and costumes. Each show will be completely different, and newcomers can still have fun through this new experience.

Tickets are available at LastCallTheatre.com.

Worlds Collide will be held in the California Room at Thymele Arts located at 5481 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029. There will be 5 performances from June 7th – 27th.

About Worlds Collide

The cast includes Riley Cole, Charnie Rose Dondrea, Liviera Lim, Maria Sole Quintili, and Jacob Zorehkey, who have all worked on previous Last Call Theatre shows.

Alexander Whitover directs Worlds Collide, whose directing tenure with Last Call includes Signals, Abandoned, and Reforged. The show concept was developed by Brit Baltazar, Ashley Busenlener, Riley Cole, Michael DiNardo, and Alexander Whitover. The production team includes Assistant Director Alex Borja, Producer Ashley Busenlener, and Costume Designer Kale Hinthorn.

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In a regular stage show, guests would watch a performance and become passive viewers. With immersive theatre, guests become part of the show. Depending on the production, they can interact with actors, objects and the world around them. Los Angeles is home to immersive theatre productions thanks to Mister & Mischief, Delusion, and Creep LA.

Nerd Reactor had the chance to chat with Crocker, who is working as the creative facilitator at the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre in Los Angeles. She discusses her experiences working with Disney at Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser including the challenges of blending experiential design with a beloved IP. Her goal is to create immersive, inclusive, and accessible experiences for all.

On Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser:

“So they knew what they were getting into, which is shenanigans,” Crocker tells Nerd Reactor about why Disney hired her. “I like to make shenanigans happen. So I knew that my expertise would probably be best used in those I like to call it like a passing of the baton between scripted and unscripted materials. And helping those actors be able to connect with the guests in authentic, real ways that both supported the structure of the show that needed to happen, but also created this never-before, never again, moments in real-time with real guests, which is really hard when there is a lot of facts about the galaxy. And not everyone has the same knowledge base. You don’t want to break the galaxy.”

On Bob Baker Marionette Theater:

“Bob Baker Marionette Theater has done it before, but in this theme park setting, it was really exciting,” she said. “And so that’s how that relationship formed. It was taking the puppets out of the theater and into the world, which they’ve done, but this was its own unique thing. And then when they were looking to develop this connective tissue for this new show. They thought that I might be a good fit, and I’m so thrilled.”

To learn more about Mister & Mischief, please visit the site. Visit the website for more information on Bob Baker Marionette Theater.

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As part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, I was able to embark on an adventure inside the Church of the Broken God, an anomalous religion tasked with rebuilding their mechanical god Mekhane and ensuring the supremacy of machine over flesh. Last Call Theatre’s Reforged is an engaging 2-hour, interactive experience that left me wanting more.

There are three different sects including the Broken Church, the Maxwellists, and the Cogwork Orthodoxy, and before the show, I received a survey that would help direct me to which sect to join. I was given the Broken Church; however, since the show is highly interactive, you can start in a different sect or switch to a new one if that group catches your eye.

A civil war inside the Church of the Broken God is on the horizon with the disappearance of the leader, Omniseer Robert Bumaro, Builder of the Broken God. There’s a power vacuum, with the three different sects vying for control. Additionally, an ancient Cult and the Foundation are also at play to control the Church and the Blueprint that would lead the Church into a new era of unity.

The three different sects have different visions for the future of the Church of the Broken God, but I’m a ride-or-die type of guy and stuck with my first choice, the Broken Church. We had many different tasks with the majority of our missions involving stealing and sneaking around. There were secrets, revelations, and twists and turns. Even with that said, I was willing to stick with the sect until the very end to see how far our group would triumph.

There is so much happening inside Reforged that you won’t be able to do it all in just one show. Like an RPG with many paths, Last Call Theatre’s latest offers many branches where participants could do it all over again and have a different experience and even outcomes. The cast is always helpful, making sure you’re actively participating and have something to do. If you’re not the active type, you can observe the story in the background, but where is the fun in that?

You can currently get tickets to Last Call Theatre’s Reforged via the Hollywood Fringe Festival. The show is held at Joyce Hall at Thymele Arts in Los Angeles.

About Last Call Theatre’s Reforged

Reforged is Last Call Theatre’s seventh immersive production, with Last Call having recently produced the critically-acclaimed Pirates Wanted. Reforged is directed by Alexander Whitover. The production team is helmed by creative lead Jacob Zorehkey with producers Ashley Busenlener, Riley Cole, and associate producer Michael DiNardo.

The narrative team was led by Jacob Zorehkey with narrative work by Ashley Busenlener, Riley Cole, Liviera Lim, Alexander Panagos, and Alexander Whitover.

The cast includes Abiane, Envy, Jake Alder, James Bilinsky, Ashley Busenlener, Riley Cole, Michael DiNardo, Liviera Lim, Chess MacElvaine, Bonnie-Lynn Montaño, Isabel Moon, Maria Puig, Nina Santoyo, Haven Schneider, Mikey Takla, Evan Wank, and Shelby Ryan Lee.

The team also includes Riley Cole as assistant director/lighting designer, Kale Hinthorn as Last Call Theatre’s resident costume designer, Alissa Wilstein as scenic/props designer, and Evan Wank as graphic designer.

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Outside In premieres on May 7, 2024, at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, which will help start the $50 million capital campaign for The Child Center of NY’s Innovation Center. In addition to being a play, it will be an interactive experience following Maya, an 18-year-old facing challenges in modern-day New York City. Inspired by the format of NYC’s Sleep No More, the scripted performance with improvisation will have guests being active participants and learning about mental wellness.

Three performances of Outside In will only be available for one night at 5 p.m., 6:30 p.m., and 8 p.m. at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The special event will have an opening night reception and red carpet with celebrity guests, influencers, and VIPs.

Tickets start at $100 plus fees. Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is located at Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023.

“As we honor National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Month, ‘Outside In’ catalyzes the launch of our Community Innovation Lab,” Traci Donnelly, CEO of The Child Center of NY, said in a statement. “It’s an invitation to explore the healing potential of art and play therapy and support children’s mental health.”

“‘Outside In’ is a journey designed to provoke lasting change,” Surina Jindal, Executive Producer of Outside In, said. “It invites our community to embrace the healing power of art and play therapy.”

Those who want to help support will be able to do so in future Outside In pop-up plays.

In addition to attending the event, supporters can contribute to the mental wellness movement by donating online or participating in future “Outside In” Pop-Up Plays.

For more information about “Outside In” and the Community Innovation Lab, please visit ChildCenterNY.org.

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Guests first arrive near the American Pride, a tall ship that launched in 1941 and is operated by the Los Angeles Maritime Institute. They can dress up like pirates to immerse themselves in the story, and the cast of Pirates Wanted all have their own unique personalities with exciting escapades. Of course, we can’t have a pirate adventure without someone who channels Pirates of the Carribean‘s Captain Jack Sparrow.

The pirates introduced themselves to the large group of adventurers, and we had the option of either sneaking on board the American Pride or taking it over by “force.” (Remember, this is still immersive theatre, and you must follow the actors’ directions and be respectful.) The majority shouted to sneak onto the ship, and we slowly maneuvered toward it.

One of the newer options is being able to choose how much you want to interact with the actors. You can be really active or you can have a more passive role. The ones who want to watch and not interact will get to wear an eye mask. As for me, I love playing RPGs and tabletop RPGs, so being able to interact with the actors, complete objectives, and have a helping hand in advancing the story was my preference.

To make the best out of the experience, it’s recommended to participate and interact with the actors. The crew gives adventurers a to-do list, which helps them navigate around the ship to look for certain characters. This ranges from a pirate helping you learn to sword fight to a pirate helping with learning the parts of the ship. Since Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is one of my favorite films, I was heavily involved with the story involving Captain Draken, played by Shelby Ryan Lee. He was searching for a siren, a mythical creature known to entice sailers, and he tasked me with searching for her on the ship.

Pirates Wanted takes advantage of the American Pride ship as we get to move across from the stern to the bow. We could even enter the crew’s quarter to search for clues and items. With many guests taking on different tasks, there may be moments when the quest giver is busy, so you can either wait for the opportune time or look for other characters to ask for help.

The characters and their stories provided plenty of amusement, drama and laughter, whether it was playing matchmaker between two pirates or strengthening the bond of two siblings. There were also rivalries between a couple of pirates complete with swashbuckling action on their part. The whole experience ended with the pirates singing and playing instruments, and it was a wonderful conclusion to a lengthy adventure.

If you ever wanted to be part of an immersive pirate adventure, you can’t go wrong with Last Call Theatre’s Pirates Wanted There’s nothing quite like embarking on a journey with pirate actors on board an actual sailing vessel and helping them on their mission to piracy. The more you put into the story, the more you’ll get out of it.

You can get tickets at https://lastcalltheatre.ticketleap.com/pirateswanted.

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Last Call Theatre is a Los Angeles-based immersive theatre company that creates highly interactive plays that bring the world to the guests who enter. There are many ways to play, and one can interact with different actors in different ways, making it a truly unique experience for each person. (You can check out our experience with its previous production, The Collective.) The Harvest is one of Last Call Theatre’s most thrilling and enthralling shows yet filled with joy and darkness as guests are tasked with discovering the secrets of Windsor Grove.

Since The Harvest is an interactive experience, it’s highly encouraged that guests participate and immerse themselves in the story. I created a background where I was a distant relative of Isaac, an excited villager who wanted to court another villager, and I was tasked with helping with the process. This involved teaching dance moves, a quest for a lovely gift, and more. I was also tasked by other villagers to help prepare for The Harvest including collecting ingredients.

As the 100th Annual Harvest Festival started, a day of jour quickly turned sour as someone fell ill. This is believed to be the work of witchcraft, and Mayor Corey wants to get to the bottom of those who are responsible.

With foul play in sight, it’s up to the guests visiting Windsor Grove to dig deep into who the villagers are and what secrets they keep. Since we’re able to choose our own adventure, we could interact with any of the villagers and help them out, and we could even take sides or play both sides. The choice is yours.

The interaction with the performers is the meat of The Harvest, and they help steer you in a direction that helps move the plot along. With so many characters, story elements can happen anywhere and even in other locations without you knowing it. As for me, my task was to help out the ones who were being accused of witchcraft, and I tried to find out more about the suspects while trying to figure out the true story.

I won’t divulge details of the ending, but let’s just say that some of my actions resulted in our experience getting the bad ending. (That depends on whose side you’re on.) I thought I was trying to help, but it turned out that I exposed secrets that are too damning to ignore. Was there another way to get a happy ending? Probably, but that’s what makes The Harvest so special. Each show can have different outcomes, and they could be good or bad. It’s all up to you and your group.

The location of The Harvest is at The Count’s Den in Downtown Los Angeles, an eerie venue that captures Windsor Grove. With many rooms all around, it’s a fun experience with surprises in every corner.

You can get tickets for The Harvest at Last Call Theatre. It is now running until December 16th and is located at The Count’s Den (1039 S Olive St, Los Angeles, CA 90015).

Featured image: Kale Hinthorn as Martha in Last Call Theatre’s The Harvest. Photo credit: Charly Charney Cohen

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Last Call Theatre is back at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, and it’s continuing on with a new interactive and immersive in-person show called The Collective. Guests were transported to the past thanks to the chosen venue, The 3 Clubs Cocktail Lounge, which brings out the Hollywood aesthetic. The show is a mix of a murder mystery, a real-life video game, and a stage play where participants could partake in different quests (over 40 are available) that can lead to different outcomes. The Collective is a blast from the past, and interacting with the actors was a lot of fun as you can come up with interesting and amusing ways to achieve your mission.

There are so many moving parts for The Collective, that it can sometimes get overwhelming in this interactive and immersive show. There are many characters at play including Sylvia the starlet (Abiane Stroebel), Captain Seavey the smuggler (Shelby Ryan Lee), Maria the enforcer (Elena Scaringe-Peene), and many more. Before the start of the show, you’ll be sorted into a group based on how you filled out a questionnaire. The best way to enjoy the experience is to choose what you really want to do and focus on that. If that means jumping ship to work for another lieutenant, so be it. This is a criminal organization, after all.

I was sorted into the smuggler group with Captain Seavey as my boss, and whatever he asked, I did. There were other lieutenants looking to undermine each other, so it’s best to try to cut all the noise out and follow through with your goals. These tasks resulted in hilarious interactions with the actors including convincing them of joining our team via negotiations, distracting others in order to steal from them, finding the culprit of a murder that happened during the wake, and more. What’s great about these missions is that you actually feel like you’re part of the story and moving the story along.

If certain quests are accomplished, they activate pivotal or entertaining story elements. One group was able to activate a song and dance number between Sylvia and Shepard (Alexander Whitover), a lieutenant. Everyone gathered around the stage and sat down at their respective tables, watching Stroebel on the stage with her beautiful singing voice, and afterward, she and Whitover performed a fun swing routine.

In conclusion, The Collective is filled with interesting and engaging actors who help you move the story along. Will someone die on your watch? Will your actions help your lieutenant become the Don? It’s all a game of deception in this immersive and interactive show, and it’s the ultimate fantasy of reliving 1920s prohibition as an agent inside a crime syndicate.

Tickets for The Collective are available on the Hollywood Fringe website.

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