Life And Trust is a historic bank that has bankrolled New York’s greatest innovations for centuries. Located in the beating heart of New York’s Financial District, Life And Trust guards the secrets of the rich and powerful within its walls. For those who wish to pull back the curtain on American ambition, Life And Trust offers a rare opportunity to discover the value— and the cost— of cherished dreams and desires. If you long to know your worth— and better yet, to earn it— enter Life And Trust’s timeless vaults for a chance at freedom, abundance, and immortality.
Emursive produces immersive experiences in extraordinary places. As proprietors of The McKittrick Hotel and Conwell Tower, Emursive produces the award-winning Sleep No More, the highly anticipated Life And Trust, and the mind-bending Speakeasy Magick. Emursive also produces numerous live concerts, intimate music festivals, showstopping events, and spectacular themed holiday celebrations at Gallow Green, The Club Car, Manderley Bar, Conwell Coffee Hall, and The Overlook Bar.
Back in 2011, I enjoyed Sleep No More; it was novel and exquisitely executed, plus I dug the Macbeth meets Kubrick vibe. But even the Punchdrunk hit left me with zero desire to return. These Choose Your Own Adventure stunts combine my least favorite states: feeling trapped, being forced to follow a crowd, claustrophobia, FOMO, and humorless dance theater. On top of that, Life and Trust is too long to sustain interest in its heavy-handed Faustian spin on American capitalism. In terms of content, the “what” is mid, but the “how” is crazily busy—to the point of exhausting. You would think that an immersive event—sweaty, physical, three-dimensional—is the polar opposite of bodiless, isolating social media, yet I found the torrents of trivial visual information and absence of thoughtful language to resemble, well, wasted hours online. But, hey: You’re young, attend spin class, love escape rooms, and don’t care about narrative coherence. For you, Life and Trust may be a gold mine of fun.
For this (I think!) one-time only participant, Life and Trust was always beautiful to look at, and occasionally captivating as an experience, but without a cohering story to unfurl and something narratively to mold in my mind, it was also frustrating, tiring, and—after hours of wandering around, despite all the striking visual stimuli—thoroughly, teeth-grindingly irritating. This a fun and beautifully, impressively rendered playground, but you will need a lot of time, money, and sensible shoes to make proper sense of it. Its own Faustian bargain, you might say.
2022 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway Production Off-Broadway |
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