Vigilance Theater Group has always brought an air of spookiness to its productions. Since its founding in 2018, the immersive theater company has taken audiences to the archetypal house from a slasher film, through a spirit-filled volcano world, and on a Shirley Jackson-inspired ghost hunt.
Vigilance’s latest production, Hide, opened July 26, is no different, says director Brooke Echnat, but offers fun for mystery fans and even the horror-averse. This time, the action centers around a family’s annual summer party, inviting participants to uncover dark secrets, “from fraying marriages to supernatural intrigue.” Audiences, capped at 15 people per show, interact directly with performers at the gathering to try to stay ahead of the intrigue, and are ultimately guided toward a “very important choice that will impact the way the rest of the evening is going to go,” Echnat tells Pittsburgh City Paper.
“By the end,” a production synopsis reads, “vengeful creatures will emerge.”
To add to the family reunion quality, the show also takes place at a private house in Highland Park, the location of which is disclosed only to ticket buyers.
Hide stages Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through Aug. 11, including an accessible performance on Sat., Aug. 4, and stars Marisa Postava, Maddie Kocur, Tamara Siegert, John Feightner, Bradleigh Bell, Tyler Ray Kendrick, Sarah Dugan, and Allie Lampman-Sims. Tickets cost $60 and are available through Humanitix and Vigilance’s website.
What sets Hide apart, Echnat says, is how developed its characters are. Over weeks of rehearsal, the eight-person cast dedicated itself to creating shared history and character dynamics that would reflect the depth of real-life family relationships.
“When it comes to immersive theater, these actors need to know their characters inside and out,” Echnat says. “So much of their character work was really building all of the inner workings of this family.”
Throughout the process, “every night” actors were “making new discoveries and there [were] new moments,” Echnat tells CP. “I’m like, I don't know how they’re coming up with all this, but I think it's because they’re so grounded in their characters and relationships to each other, which is the best thing in the world.”
Echnat also credits the complex dynamics to the play’s writing by Vigilance creative director Sean Collier. Over six years of Vigilance productions, Collier’s characters have been known to recur, and according to Echnat, Hide audience members can expect some “Easter eggs” from past storylines.
Creating Hide also required extensive improvisation work, though not in the comedic sense.
“It’s been a lot of having [the cast] improv little mini scenes and vignettes and just build their comfortability with each other,” Echnat says.
All this character work translates to the audience, she believes, and allows theatergoers to feel like they’re immersed in the show and engaged in genuine conversations.
During Hide, audiences “will be able to interact with the characters and build some meaningful connections throughout and get the chance to explore,” Echnat says. “For me, it’s really just giving an audience an opportunity to play.”
This is Echnat’s first time directing a Vigilance project, after acting in the company’s outdoor production of The Crucible and serving as assistant director for last fall’s Campfire Stories — both part of Vigilance’s Season of Fire, which also includes Hide.
The Pittsburgh native shares that she’s the only person involved with the theater group who’s not a fan of horror or haunted houses. Echnat instead drew inspiration from the Happiest Place On Earth — working on the team that opened Disney’s much-discussed Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel. Offering a two-night immersive experience that simulated an outer space voyage, the Galactic Starcruiser was described by then-CEO Bob Chapek as Disney’s “most experiential concept ever.”
Though it was ultimately discontinued after 18 months, the experience led Echnat to “really [fall] in love with immersive theater and the interactive theater world” and what it could offer.
“[I saw] the way audience members fully connected with the world and fully got to create their own characters and have their own sense of play,” Echnat says. “Whether they were 50 years old, in their 30s, or they were 10 years old, they got to just allow themselves to play.”
After coming back from pandemic shutdowns, Vigilance has also considered the future of immersive theater.
“I just truly hope the popularity of immersive theater continues to grow,” Echnat says. “because I think it can create such interesting, intimate, and transformative experiences for audience members they might not be able to get in a traditional theater setting.”
“It’s stepping into a world that maybe you’ve dreamed about going into, but then to be able to create your own identity within that world … or be able to impact other characters or make changes and feel like you have a role or responsibility within that setting I think is so cool,” Echnat says. “And I think that’s what audience members are really wanting to cling on to.”
