Inside the Box Productions Announces SLEEPWALKR: A 360° Audio Experience
San Gabriel, CA
Happy new year! It’s after Christmas, and in this cold of winter (or at least it seems that way in Southern California, since we’ve gotten abnormally extended dreary and rainy days lately), you might be working for an escape from the post-holiday, back-to-everyday doldrums. Well, good news! Opening today is the latest experimental theater experience from Inside the Box Productions. You may remember Inside the Box from last summer, when they debuted their first immersive theater presentation entitled Within Our Walls. This was the first professional haunt endeavor of Sam Kellman, know for his Opechee Haunt home haunt creations, taking guests on a voyeuristic and unnerving witness of a family crumbling under the weight of unimaginable tragedy.
For the second Inside the Box creation, Sam has been joined by David Coleman, of Exquisite Corpse Productions and former Twisted Minds fame, to delve into another unorthodox form of theater. SLEEPWALKR is a black-out, immerise audio-centric experience that hones in on a more cerebral form of entertainment. Depriving one of site and placing guest within immersion pods, this attraction features three distinct experiences that transport the audience into the dreams of other people. And it promises an experience that’s different than the usual haunted theater or haunted house fare.
The production runs only two weekends, in San Gabriel, on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, starting tonight! Make sure to check it out!
From the press release:
Inside the Box Productions Presents SLEEPWALKR: An Immersive 360° Audio Experience
A world where dreams are a reality
Entering this immersive experience, you will be transported to 2044 Los Angeles, where a hot new underground form of entertainment is popping up in secret locations throughout the city: dreamscape immersion.
How is this possible, you may ask? Well, over time, MRI scanning technology has developed to the point where we can observe the dreams of others, thanks to SLEEPWALKR Industries and their patented tech. This is a revolution within the medical field, especially in treating issues related to mental health, allowing therapists to dive into their patients' subconscious firsthand. The visual results generated are good enough-- though still far from perfect-- but the audio developed is something else entirely.
While not available on the public market, some internal spies within the medical community have used their intel to get their hands on a few select SLEEPWALKR machines, selling them off to clandestine entertainment troupes known by a hush-hush few as "dream exhibitors." Everyday folks will pay to enter these secret exhibition spaces and enter the dreamscapes of others, providing them with a psychedelic and otherworldly somnaural experience. Dreamers come in from all walks of life to link up and showcase their minds to audiences. Some engage for the money, some do it for a sort of exhibitionist thrill, some have been pressured by friends or relatives. But no matter how they've got here, these folks have interesting minds worth exploring through the power of dreams.
Come and enter a dreamscape, won't you? Maybe more than one, even. The Sandmen Collective, the most popular and successful of the city's dream exhibitors, is here to provide you with the opportunity.
An unforgettable experience
You'll arrive at what seems to be an average, unsuspecting mini mall. Head up the stairs and around to the back corner, down a long and foreboding hallway. This is the spot The Sandmen Collective has chosen to exhibit tonight.
Then, you are presented with the opportunity to choose one of three dream experiences. Or two of three. Or all of them. Each dreamer is an entirely different person, of course resulting in a completely different piece of dreamscape immersion depending on who you decide to somnaurally link with. You will be placed into one of multiple small chambers where you will be provided with an eye mask and a pair of headphones.
This is where the experience truly begins, allowing you a 10-15 minute encounter per dreamer, as you are enveloped within the abstract, experimental storytelling of their subconscious via expertly mixed 360-degree immersive audio and live sensory effects– all the while being trapped in complete darkness. Will it be ethereal, emotional, horrifying, uplifting? You'll have to see for yourself. Choose your dreamer(s) wisely. It's unlike anything you've ever experienced before.
Inside the Box Productions welcomes you to SLEEPWALKR.
Three dreamers, three stories
Exhibition Bay Alpha - HARVEY
A wild ride through childhood fears.
Up to 4 guests per link
Minor sensory effects
Loud, frightening, exaggerated
Exhibition Bay Bravo - SIOBAHN
You're performing onstage, but the audience has other ideas.
Up to 6 guests per link
Minor sensory effects
Nerve-racking, claustrophobic, ethereal
Exhibition Bay Charlie - CLEMENTINE
Amidst a late-night subway train jaunt, a strange passenger approaches.
Up to 8 guests per link
Moderate sensory effects
Intimidating, gritty, disturbing
Dates/Times/Address/Pricing
January 6-8 and 13-15, 2023 | Open from 7pm-11pm nightly
Individual Dream: $10 | Two Dream Bundle: $18 | Three Dream Bundle: $24
Sunny Plaza
529 East Valley Boulevard
San Gabriel, CA 91776
For more information...
Experience Website: https://sleepwalkr.org/
Eventbrite Ticket Page (Tickets go live December 9th): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sleepwalkr-an-immersive-360-degree-audio-experience-tickets-460863423907
Inside the Box Productions Website: https://goinsidethebox.com/
Inside the Box Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetheboxprod/
Created by young artists
Co-creators Sam Kellman and David Coleman already have years of experience in the immersive entertainment space despite their young age– with Sam operating The Opechee Haunt for over a decade, creating experiences such as TOUR, The Donnie Darko Experience, and Jack’s Halloween JamBOOree, having most recently creative directed the immersive theatre show Within Our Walls under Inside the Box Productions. David has previously worked with The Opechee Haunt and Twisted in creating numerous haunted attractions, branching off into his own Exquisite Corpse Horror Media in recent years, producing installations such as 2022’s Redwater. He’s stoked to join Inside the Box on this project, and his expertise in the field of immersive audio and sound design is definitely a very welcome addition to the quality of SLEEPWALKR. Both Sam and David are also engaged in the film industry, providing this attraction with a memorable cinematic edge.
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.