From Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to Westworld to Sleep No More, fully immersive experiences are all the rage in the themed entertainment world these days. Audiences are no longer meant to simply be passive observers, instead opting for a role in the story – to actually become part of the fictitious world created around them.
The feeling of getting truly lost inside a rich world filled with life and character is like no other. And in Orlando, Florida, one company is aiming to show that the most immersive experiences can be found outside the city’s theme parks.
Pseudonym Productions is an independent experiential design and production company based in Orlando, bringing uniquely interactive and immersive experiences to life.
Since 2013, Pseudonym has been creating living experiences. Hijacking traditional theater to engage with the audience, Pseudonym draws participants – or “players” – into the performance as essential characters – allowing them to bend, shape, and actively change an elaborate narrative that unfolds around them.
Like in an open-world video game, Pseudonym’s audiences explore and interact with fully responsive physical environments, controlling the flow and direction of the experience while simultaneously being guided and entertained by professional actors, acting as non-player characters. The resulting experience becomes a true collaboration between its creators, actors, and players.
With a goal of bringing people out of their seats, off their phones, and engaging with the world around them, each of Pseudonym’s new immersive experiences aims to push boundaries and get people to escape their comfort zones. Whether taking part in a dystopian mystery, joining a secret society, exploring a fallen realm, or stepping into a dreamscape, the fantasy worlds Pseudonym creates allow audiences to freely explore different personas to discover parts of themselves they may never have even realized existed. Every player can truly take on whatever “pseudonym” they wish for an evening, in a safe, risk-free environment, without judgment, enabling complete freedom and the ability to simply play.
Pseudonym creates themed entertainments that are fully interactive, with an emphasis on theater, art, and gaming. It’s entertainment that’s designed to be fun, but also make audiences feel, and think, offering a deeper experience than the many others that last a mere few minutes. Pseudonym’s experiences allow participants to disappear into an alternate world and truly live as whatever version of themselves they wish while they are there.
So far, the four productions Pseudonym has created over the last years – The Republic, When Shadows Fall, Catharsis, and A Study of Dreams – have acted as proof-of-concept and R&D tests for the company’s much bigger plans to establish a permanent home in Orlando, a place open year-round in which players can come as often as they wish and continue to live out stories as they unfold across multiple visits. Because, in the end, the experience makes each participant the star of their own story, which molds and shapes around them.
For Pseudonym to achieve their vision of creating a permanent place for their fantastical worlds to exist, they are actively looking for partners, collaborators, and investors. This vast experience is now in development, only in need of support to make it come to life.
I know this because I am a Producer at Pseudonym Productions and it has become my passion over the last three years to develop these uniquely interactive immersive experiences. What we are creating at Pseudonym is the future of live entertainment, mashing up elements of so many forms of artistic expression and storytelling to create the ultimate playground for adults.
At the very least, I invite you to follow along with our progress in making this vision real over at PseudonymProductions.com. There you can sign up for our mailing list to stay on top of the latest developments. And, if you are able to help out in any way – a skill, a talent, a source of funds, or even a lead on a location to build this place of unlimited imagination – you’ll find our contact information on our website too.
