Get a Glimpse Inside The Tension Experience: Ascension
Debi Moore
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If you live in or near Los Angeles, the #1 haunted adventure you don’t want to miss this Halloween season is The Tension Experience: Ascension, which begins Thursday, September 8th, and was recently revealed to be the latest project from Saw II-IV and Repo! director Darren Lynn Bousman.
If you’re still not quite sure what it’s all about, we have a glimpse inside the Experience to share along with a few more details…
As for why he finally revealed himself as the haunt’s creator, Bousman explained to LAist that in the beginning he never intended to do so, but it soon became apparent that he should. While he estimates 98% of the fan base realized it was all fake, about 2% of the players were getting too involved. “Some people were taking it too seriously and making death threats and trying to expose us by doing out-of-game things,” Bousman said. Some people even found his house, which is pretty scary when you think about it.
Getting back to Ascension, guests will be placed inside an immersive theater performance in order to “live in” their own movie with a traditional three-act structure, but they must make their own choices, which will alter the outcome of their experience. With a 400-page script, you can imagine all the variables.
For instance, one stark room, where guests are “processed” and where their paths begin to diverge from those with whom they came, has 25 different experiences, based on which actor you wind up with and how you answer that actor’s questions. The more you personally give as you continue the narrative, the more you will receive.
Of the 24 rooms inside the warehouse, the average guest will see about 20 of them. Some guests may, by paying attention and solving particular clues or finding certain objects, unlock secret rooms and have one-on-one scenes unavailable to anyone but a few of the night’s 60 or so attendees. If no guest solves those puzzles, the actor will sit in that room alone for the night with nothing to do. Other sets of clues may lead to an offsite location, where the guest is removed from the warehouse and completes an entirely unique trajectory.
Rest assured that The Tension Experience: Ascension will not get physical with you. Instead, expect the horror to be psychological. Expect your boundaries to be tested and for the scenarios to make you uncomfortable or vulnerable. For example, getting through some challenges requires you to be introspective, while others force you to answer very personal questions about yourself in front of total strangers.
“We’re not going to jump out and scream at you, and we are not going to put a knife to your throat and threaten to kill you,” Bousman says. “It’s more about getting you out of your comfort zone, putting you in a space you’re not used to, and then you have to make decisions. I think when you leave here, it’s going to be shocking, confusing, and disturbing.”
Producer Gordon Bijelonic said that after the Experience‘s September through November run, they will be using the space as a soundstage to produce a movie based on the narrative. After that, they intend to do two more shows. While The Tension Experience focuses on just that, Tension, the next two shows aim to activate different emotions: Adrenaline and Lust.
“We want to be the Cirque du Soleil of the theater world,” Bijelonic says. “I think L.A. is ready for it. I think the next five years will be interesting. With a lot of the development that’s been going on here, with all the hotels and restaurants and New York concepts coming here, I think the timing is perfect. And with the [immersive theater] veterans who have done a great job paving the road, you had a subculture that is now at a tipping point that’s going mainstream.”
About The Tension Experience:
The Tension Experience is a guided Illumination designed to prepare You for a new way to see this world. By design, those who choose this Journey can be assured that they will never be quite sure where the events will go, when they will start and stop, and often, what the true motivation behind them actually is.
The direction, writing, special effects, and production design come from the film industry’s top talent who feel that now is the time to revolutionize what interactive entertainment can be. This is more than a haunt and more than immersive theater; participants will feel as though they are inside of a genre movie that has vividly come to life all around them.
The Tension Experience does not sleep, cater to the weak, or simply exist to amuse You. We want to reshape your beliefs, your fears, and your reality.
Interested? Head over to The Tension Experience to learn more and grab tickets!
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