Jessica Hern as Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby
Photograph: Courtesy Mark Senior | | The Great Gatsby
Photograph: Courtesy Mark Senior | |

The best immersive theater in New York right now

Put yourself in the middle of the action at immersive plays and interactive theater experiences beyond Broadway

Adam Feldman
Advertising

When it comes to theater, who says you have to just sit and watch? Immersive theater in New York City puts you right in the middle of the action, and often draws you in to participate. Whereas most Broadway shows still follow the traditional proscenium-arch model, some some immersive Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions even dispense with the idea of a stage entirely, letting you follow your own paths through unconventional spaces. To help you navigate the maze of options, here is our list of the city's best immersive and interactive shows.

RECOMMENDED: Best Broadway shows

Immersive Theater in NYC

  • Interactive
  • Hell's Kitchen
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Recommended

Role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons are inherently theatrical: The players are all playing roles, after all. But the idea of building an actual stage show around the game—an entirely improvised one, guided by audience suggestions and decisions—seems, well, a little dicey. But an element of the unexpected is one of the things that makes this goofy fantasy show such fun. Whether or not you know much about D&D going in, it’s an adventuring party you won't want to miss.—Shaye Weaver

  • Musicals
  • Upper West Side

The ever-inventive theater company Bedlam lays claim to its new home at the Upper West Side's West End Theatre with an immersive staging of an original country jukebox musical built around songs by J.T. Harding, who has written hits for artists including Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and Uncle Kracker. Peter Zinn's script centers on a pair of songwriters, played by Stephen Michael Spencer and Casey Shler, whose hardscrabble aspirations are obstructed in different ways by the drug epidemic and other challenges. Bedlam honcho Eric Tucker directs the New York premiere. 

Advertising
  • Interactive
  • Financial District

Audience members choose their own paths through a specially designed multifloor complex in the Financial District in this all-new immersive theatrical experience from Emursive, the producers of Punchdrunk's Sleep No More. Dozens of performers evoke life in the Gilded Age through narratives loosely inspired by real New York City history as well as literary sources like the Faust legend and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Teddy Bergman directs the show, which is written by Jon Ronson and features scenic design Gabriel Hainer Evansohn and costumes by Emilio Sosa.

RECOMMENDED: A guide to Life and Trust, NYC’s most intricate immersive theater experience

  • Things to do
  • Quirky events

Tom and Betsy Salamon’s unique adventure—part interactive theater, part scavenger hunt, part walking tour—draws participants into an amusing web of puzzles and intrigue. The three-hour Village tour travels through quirky Greenwich Village on Saturday afternoon. Groups of as many as 11 are booked every half hour. 

Advertising
Recommended
    You may also like
    You may also like
    Advertising