What I liked
The lilt of Thaddeus Shafer’s voice and the unreachable, eternal kindness in his eyes teleported me right back to my religious upbringing. It was down right unsettling (in the BEST way). Nerea Duhart had a such a commanding nature that made me want to follow her anywhere (and I did.)
What I didn't like
There are definitely a few characters that were more multifaceted than the others. I don’t think that is necessarily negative, but it did make me more invested in them for the choose-your-own-adventure moments.
My overall impression
Immersive theatre always hangs in the balance between audience intimacy and ground level storytelling. What you experience in “Rochester, 1996” is one of the most transportive works of immersive storytelling that I have yet to witness. To actually sit in an awkward silence as the van rolls through traffic? To be inside the protagonist’s head, join the community and then invisibly witness a family dissolving in every room of the house? Through every twist and turn I found myself existing within these stunning stage pictures that were inhabited by beautifully honest and understated moments between our main characters. What Capital W and Drycraeft Los Angeles created with this piece is truly masterful.
