Review: SAFEHOUSE '77 Recruits Participants Into a 1970's Spy Versus Spy Immersive Party Game

Of all the immersive theater productions I have taken part in during the past several months, I can tell you that the most thoroughly entertaining for me has been SAFEHOUSE '77 presented by Spy Brunch LLC for its third and final run through December 2, 2018. The one-of-a-kind experience includes six actors and ten participants transported back in time to a 1977 Los Angeles house party, supposedly organized in support of the Equal Right Amendment, taking place in a 1970's era airbnb rental home in the Los Feliz district, decorated with enough 1970's gadgetry and memorabilia to transport you back to the days of disco when Twister was a favorite party game.

SAFEHOUSE '77 is a site-specific interactive show with a mixture of historical and pop-cultural influences in the exciting world of spy movies. The evening begins after parking in a Bank of America lot a few blocks away from the party house where Connie (Ashley Jones, decked out in high-waisted bell bottom jeans), the sister of our party host, Sharon (Katie Rediger), meets us and goes over a few rules for the evening before escorting us to the party. Just prior to entering, each guest is given an ERA YES badge, every one different in color with an animal sticker in its center. Of course, there is a purpose which soon becomes apparent once the party begins.

Participants are then invited in to explore and inhabit the fully-designed space that captures the sexy, shaggy spirit of Los Angeles in the '70s, a time and place when truly anything could happen. Cocktails and snacks are served, music plays, games promote the party spirit... but what's really going on underneath the party's glossy surface? As participants are split up and pulled into private encounters with each of the actors, each begins to learn more about their fellow guests and what secrets they hold. Intrigue, seduction, laughs... they're all part of the experience. So dress the part and be Ready to Play along with the story as it enfolds around you, with the basic story infused with unique improvisation each time depending upon the group of participants attending that night.

I am sharing how the evening played out for me, although depending upon which "spy" pulls you in to work with him/her will chart the evening for you. During the first 15 minutes, I walked around the small house, drank some wine, devoured snacks, laughed at the 8-tracks and Group Therapy game on a shelf, all the while speaking with the other participants wearing badges as well as the actors as they arrived to join the party. Among them, along with Connie and Sharon, were handsome and tall Lucas (Payden Ackerman), Sharon's current boyfriend formerly involved with his co-worker Sonya (sexy and mysterious Katelyn Schiller, appropriately dressed by costume designer Alexis Rheinwald-Jones) like Stevie Nicks since Fleetwood Mac's Rumors album is played during the party), and finally Carlotta (tall and lithe Shoshanna Green) and Max (Nick Rheinwald-Jones in a most excellent island-inspired bowling shirt), the last to arrive who seem a bit jet lagged after just returning from Paris. But why were they there and what business are they in since they seem to know Lucas and Sonya quite intimately? And so it begins.

But when I met Sonya, co-worker and ex-girlfriend of Lucas, I was shocked by her intense stare as she asked me if I was "born on a Wednesday," which in fact I was. After following the party rules set forth by Connie, Sonya invited me into one of the bedrooms and proceeded to recruit me into spying on Lucas to confirm her suspicions about him and how much Sharon knows about what went on during their recent trip to London. Then I was promptly sent back out into the living room with the rest of the party guests to gather the information by asking questions and reporting back to Sonya when she pulled me into private conversations in other locations, revealing even more secrets and job assignments. And while I did not play Twister or Charades, I was pulled into an I Ching reading by Max which actually proved to be right on the mark.

Over the course of the evening, it became apparent that each of the five actors invited to the party by Sharon recruited two of the guests into investigating their fellow spies for them. Truly no one in the cast seems to be who they appear to be at first, especially after you are pulled into private conversations with them and discover secrets they are hiding as each is a spy hiding from others in Sharon's Safehouse. It's fun to create a different persona for yourself and just go with the flow, follow instructions, and play along while listening for clues everywhere and reporting back to the person who first recruited you to their "team."

So exquisitely is the action choreographed by creator and director Nick Rheinwald-Jones, with all characters portrayed completely believably by the actors, that you will be too busy on your own mission to notice when guests are pulled into other rooms by cast members behind closed doors which you may NOT open. And just what goes on in those other rooms during those private conversations may never be revealed to you, but I can guarantee each of the 10 participants has experienced the evening from a different perspective than everyone else. In fact, the actors shared with me afterwards as I met them on the front porch that a big part of the fun is how different each performance is based upon the combination of people who participate among them each time.

SAFEHOUSE '77 tickets are $125 at https://safehouse77.ticketleap.com/safehouse-77/ which includes parking, snacks, three alcoholic beverages, and all the immersive improvisational fun you can handle! Be sure to dress to impress in 70's style. And I can tell you now, I plan to be among the guests in 2019 when SAFEHOUSE '82 is presented, saluting all the intrigue of the Reagan era. Be sure to scan and enjoy a bit about it when you receive the party clue.

Photo credit: Katelyn Schiller and Annie Lesser

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