Audacious Theatre immerses audiences in the business of sin

‘Project 7 Sins’ pitches audiences a well-cast experimental production that blends elements of an escape room, theatre, and a haunted house

This ain’t your grandmother’s Halloween theatre. Project 7 Sins blends elements of a haunted house, theatre, an escape room, and the horrors of a business pitch into one interesting evening. For the most part, this theatrical experiment is successful thanks to clever casting and a fascinating concept.

Audacious Theatre specializes in producing theatrical events that break the boundaries of live performance through collaborative, innovative, and immersive entertainment experiences. The script is written by a local playwright and professor of English at the Metropolitan State University of Denver, Rebecca Gorman O’Neill, and it is deeply intriguing. O’Neill’s choice to update the seven deadly sins within the start-up community was smart and timely.

The experience is set at the Halloween party of a new (and definitely legal) tech start-up called Sinnovation. The company figured out how to harness the power of the seven deadly sins for profit. Everything is going well for the business until a power outage causes the sins – Apathy (Elizabeth Porter), Envy (Sara Stephenson), Gluttony (Lauren Michelle Long), Greed (Jason Toennis), Lust (Jay Treat), Pride (Shawna Urbanski), and Wrath (Macbeth Richardson) – to be released from their cages and hold the party hostage. It’s up to the audience to choose: fight back or give into the sins.

As you enter the space, you are offered an exclusive “Sinnovation” button that will indicate to the performers that they have your permission to interact with you. Now, this is not like some extreme haunted houses where the actors will grab you or shake you; the vibes are a lot more chill than that. This just permits actors to guide you, touch your shoulder, or hand you objects throughout the performance.

One of the perks of partnering with Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery is that the warehouse studio space provided professional lighting for the project — and it’s used well. The studio is immaculately designed by late Denver artists Dorothy and Mel Tanner, whose work was recently displayed at Meow Wolf. The audience is ushered into the warehouse’s gallery area, which is filled to the brim with stunning works of glass art masterfully lit. (All of which are available for purchase.)

There’s a bar on your left that can whip up a colorful cocktail for the adults and provides sodas for the little demons. An elevated projector screen instructs audience members to take a brief survey for the company. Spectators are greeted by three actors, Alpha (Scott Jamieson), Beta (Fabian Vazquez), and Delta (Lily Fields), who cheerfully monitor attendees, guide folks on tours of the space, and ask people to use their phones to fill out the survey on the projector for “market research.”

At showtime, the lights are dimmed and three short Sinnovation commercials play on the projection screen, advertising the company’s sin-based supplements and Sincoin, an environmentally friendly Bitcoin powered by sin. After the end of the video, Alpha enters and welcomes us to the launch party of his company and – complete with a business plan outlined on an accompanying slide deck – begins to pitch his business to the crowd. This hilarious presentation, performed by Jamieson, sets the tone of the evening: The horror is American capitalism, and this world is all one big joke.

Things get a little out of hand when the sins are released and kill Alpha; however, Beta and Delta attempt to calm the audience and explain that there is a way to defeat the sins. Beta states that the only way to destroy the sins is by completing sin-specific tasks to earn six Sincoins from each of the seven deadly sins. These Sincoins can be used to purchase each sin’s weakness from Greed, who is hoarding all these objects and, like a true capitalist, is even willing to sell you the rope to hang himself. This explanation of Sincoins and the collection process was a little overwritten by O’Neill and – while entertaining – the sins’ theatrical performances in-between Sincoin collection activities were a little out-of-place given the horror atmosphere.

Director Logan Custer gets strong performances from the entire cast. However, Custer’s choice to have the sins remain fixed on blocks for the duration of the show restricted the actors’ movements and ran counter to the goal of bringing audiences into the action. The actors’ rooted positions — combined with the fact that the tasks to get Sincoins are strange — meant that the actors sometimes had to coax the crowd to engage with them. One performer ad-libbed “this is the interactive portion of the performance” to encourage participants to play along. This seemed to help ease folks into the mini-game component of the performance, but each of the three times the Sincoin collection occurred there was some awkwardness.

Any moments of hesitation that happened during the interactive portions are cleverly acknowledged through improvisation by the cast and help keep the performance fun. Each performer fully gives themselves over to the immersive process and, as a result, there isn’t a weak link in the cast. Pedro Lumbrano’s sound design was well-balanced and helped create a mysterious atmosphere. The costumes, designed by Macbeth Richardson, are simple but effectively paired with intricate makeup that accentuates the characteristics of each sin.

Is the production scary? Not really, but my guess is you’ll be having too much fun interacting with your fellow audience members and listening to the cast’s clever commentary to care. Some of the interactive sections don’t quite land, but if you are game to game with the seven deadly sins, consider checking out Audacious Theatre’s unconventional immersive experience this Halloween.