Serpentine: an Alternate Reality Game Blurs Barrier Between Fantasy and Reality
Pittsburgh, PA – April 26th, 2016 – What if a theater experience did not have to end just because you left the venue? Beginning this May, Uncumber Theatrics’ latest creation Serpentine invites participants to become part of a five week story that will take them across Pittsburgh and down the proverbial rabbit hole.
Serpentine blends Pittsburgh’s real history with a touch of film noir magical realism to create a playground that is the city itself. Inspired by a true Pittsburgh cold case, patrons will begin their adventure in true film noir fashion — in the office of a private investigator. What patrons discover within this office will launch them into a multi-week excursion that will have them chasing down informants, attending strange events, and searching both public spaces and internet sites for clues.
This character-driven Alternate Reality Game is part immersive theater and part scavenger hunt. Participants may delve as deeply or tread as lightly in the game as they see fit. Because the world of Serpentine is too complex for any one person to explore, collaboration becomes key. Each participant will be invited to join an online forum where they can compare notes and share information. But chose your allies carefully. Factions may emerge as this story heads towards an unknown conclusion. In the end, how this story plays out is entirely in the hands of its participants.
“If you ever thought Pittsburgh might be a magical place, you don’t know how right you are,” says Creative Director and Story Creator Ayne Terceira, whose other immersive work includes serving as a cast member of immersive experience STRATA (Bricolage) and artistic director of fear experience The Basement (ScareHouse), as well as Uncumber’s previous fully sold-out runs Her Things, Prof. Eldritch’s Asylum for Uncanny & Extraordinary Women, and Mingled. “We have fused the living world of Serpentine with our own in order to highlight a few of Pittsburgh’s strange features. In the end, you may discover there was never really a difference between the two worlds at all.”
Serpentine’s five week story begins on May 19th. Participants can enter the game at any point during the first four weeks. For each participant, the experience begins with an appointment at Maat Investigations, located at an undisclosed office space in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood. Up to four participants can attend the initial office appointment at a time. Each initial office appointment lasts approximately 40 minutes, but the time spent in the game thereafter is up to each participant. Tickets can be purchased online at the Uncumber Theatrics website (www.uncumbertheatrics.com). This experience will be open to the public and is suitable for adults ages 21+.
Serpentine is the fifth production of Uncumber Theatrics, under the creative direction of Ayne Terceira and the technical direction of Aaron Tarnow (whose experience in innovative, site-specific theatre includes two seasons as the Technical Director of Quantum Theatre). Uncumber Theatrics’ mission is to push the limits of improvisational actors and improvisational techniques to create new and innovative theatrical work. The cast therefore is drawn heavily from Pittsburgh’s booming improvisational community.
