It’s time we talked about immersive theatre.

Dear PDX directors and producers: just because your cousin’s friend’s aunt from Canada went to Sleep No More one time and told you about it, doesn’t mean you can slap the “immersive” label on any and all productions. Making an audience stand for a show that could have been done from a stage is like a meeting that should have been an email. Sure, standing and watching can be one part of an immersive experience, but it alone does not make something immersive. Let go of your need to control or maybe take a workshop or two. Maybe see what groups across the country are doing with an even smaller budget than yours. And stop name dropping Sleep No More in your advertising! If no one is allowed to touch a prop, the set might fall down at any second, no one can follow a character, gets any kind of interaction, or you don’t have characters that do something when they aren’t part of the main scene; you are not in the vicinity of that show. You’re creating a diluted embarrassment. Immersive can mean many things, but just standing around and occasionally facing a different direction is not it. Dream bigger. Do better.