Denver Center for Performing Arts' Darkfield continues to awe and scare audiences: "You forget where you are"
For the first time, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts is selling tickets to an immersive theatrical experience that gets so dark that attendees cannot see around them. "Darkfield," the latest off-Broadway experience for the DCPA, is currently showing in the RiNo district of Denver.
Darkfield is a one-of-a-kind immersive experience that takes place in a series of air-conditioned shipping containers. The three experiences, known as Séance, Flight, and Coma, challenge ticket buyers to question their perceptions of reality.
"All our performances are in total darkness with binaural audio, which is a 3D sound that makes people doubt what is real and what is imagined," said David Rosenburg, co-artistic director for Darkfield.
CBS News Colorado's Dillon Thomas was among the first people to experience Darkfield in Colorado, given exclusive advanced access to the production before it opened to others.
Thomas walked into the first shipping container which quickly makes you feel like you are boarding a plane for a commercial flight. Real airline seats, with seatbelts and all, welcome visitors.
You then sit down, put on headphones, and wait for the flight to begin as a virtual flight attendant creepily stares at you. Immediately, with the sounds around you, you feel like you are on an aircraft.
Suddenly the cabin lights dim and you are moved into complete darkness. The seats begin to shift and vibrate in sequence with the plane as the audio makes you feel like you are taxiing for takeoff. And suddenly, in the following moments, you are flown into a scary situation.
"We are exploring the fear of flying and other anxieties people might have in that enclosed space," Rosenburg said.
CBS News Colorado's cameras were allowed into the different experiences, but due to how dark it gets the cameras were unable to document most of the experience.
"It is so dark you cannot see your hand in front of your face, you become disoriented and lose the sense of the space you are in," said Glenn Neath, co-artistic director for Darkfield.
"It is an environment where the audience feels very sensitive to everything that is going on around them. The shows are frightening," Rosenburg said.
Séance involves people gathering around a large dining table in complete darkness while Coma requires people to lie down in a bunker. In each experience, you are listening to audio which makes you feel like people who are not actually in the room you are, are actually beside you.
"We could put in different sensory effects, to really reinforce what is playing through the audio, and really mess with what they think is real and what they think might be happening around them in the container," said Victoria Eyton, senior creative producer.
"It doesn't take long before you forget where you are," Rosenburg said.
Eyton said those who go into Coma are also met with different smells that match the sounds of the storyline they are listening to.
"(The DCPA team members) are pioneers in America, of bringing immersive work to the states and creating immersive work," Eyton said.
Darkfield has been extended through Sept. 1 by popular demand. Tickets are still on sale and can be purchased online at The Denver Center.
"Most people probably have not experienced the type of darkness we create, it is pretty exciting," Rosenburg said.
CBS Colorado is a proud partner of the DCPA.
