Who's behind Club Drosselmeyer?
I'm Kellian Adams Pletcher, mastermind of Green Door Labs, a small, Boston-based gaming company that builds games where digital and physical elements interact. We've created games with some amazing organizations like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, dozens of universities and even the US Army! I love what we do and I think it's important to create media that allows people to interact and respond.
But you know one place where people can't respond? Theater. I've always been a huge fan of theater but while content changes with the times, it seems like the ways we tell theater stories are often more of the same. It usually involves one thing: watch. As an audience member, you can watch while you're sitting on a bale of hay or watch while you're shaking a maraca or watch while the performers talk directly to you (and awkwardly, only you) but it still boils down to that one action: watch. As audience members, we have no agency to interact with the story. I think we have the capacity to do something more with theater - and I think it may be crazy game designers like myself who get us there.
This is a new concept, so I needed a few things to be already in place:
1. I needed a storyline that was modular so we could fit lots of characters and plotlines in there for 100+ people to interact with.
2. I needed something that was vaguely familiar- since it's a new way to tell a story, best to start with a story that people may recognize
3. I needed something where I could activate my existing resources and community in Boston. To me, that meant game designers and puzzlers but more importantly, lindy hoppers, swing musicians and vintage enthusiasts.
What we got was CLUB DROSSELMEYER, the hottest night club of 1939!! The story just magically fell in line as support poured in from my wonderful community! Danny Fratina was completely on board to write and arrange a whole new Nutcracker in swing time so our lindy hoppers could dance all through the show. He brought on his band, Rocco and the Stompers whose first passes at these original songs already sound incredible. As it turns out, Ted Simpson, swing dancer and Wednesday night swing dance DJ also happened to be a wildly talented and accomplished set designer as well as head of design at the Tufts Theater Program.
Jason Volk, who has transformed our Boston swing scene with the Greater Boston Vintage Society agreed to take charge of all costumes to make sure we're truly all placed in 1939. Mike Hibarger of Boston Swing Central pitched in instantly with his years of organizing wisdom and casual suggestions like "why not try Club Oberon?". (Spoiler alert: it worked.) I found a whole new community of people who care about making storytelling interactive with the New England LARPing community and Drosselmeyer's incredible LARPing director, Carly Dwyer-Naik.
I could go on forever: The Boston Lindy Bomb Squad (of course), The 8:30 Act, The Commonwealth Vintage Dancers, an Acro Yoga team... talented, accomplished people came out of the woodwork to pitch in and make this interactive theater experiment something amazing. No matter how the game works out, I can promise you this will be the most amazing show of the year.
What We Need & What You Get
We've got it all!! But what we don't have... as you might have guessed, is money. It's no small task to run a show for 300 people with original music, an 8 piece big band, costumes, set and over two dozen dancers and actors (we're calling them NPC's). Even if we sell out we won't cover our costs. That's why I'm turning to you, dear supporters, to help us get this off the ground.
This is an Indiegogo not a Kickstarter so yes, the event will happen. The question is how much we'll have to scrimp and cut corners and bite our nails to get to the end of it- and this Indiegogo campaign is to help ease that pressure on us- even if just a little bit.
- We're looking for about $3,000 to help us with budget for costume, set, music, practice space and possibly even a small stipend to our cast and crew who are donating their time and effort. We think artists should get paid for their work!!
- I gotta tell you- and I'm not lying- our perks are the best. You've never seen such great perks! The most incredible- seriously- the most incredible perks. (Okay but honestly, they're really fun: dance lessons, vintage hair and makeup workshops, personal vintage shoppers, vintage field trips, custom swing songs written and played just for you??! Who wouldn't want this stuff??!)
- Even if we don't reach our goal, we will be able to use whatever we can get- every little bit eases the pressure on our ticket sales. Just one more set dressing paid for, just one more practice space paid for, just one more hour with the band - everything helps.
The Impact
You can scoff- but if you know me, you know that I think fun is no small word. Great stories can be told through fun. Difficult subjects can be addressed through fun. Important communities can be built through fun. Real relationships can be built through fun. Fun can create environments for social justice and inclusion. It can help people understand the perspectives of others and make them less quick to judge. And if you know me you also know... this will definitely be fun.
But we're doing more than just that! We're forwarding the art of game design and immersive theater and paving the way for new storytellers to try and merge these two mediums!
We're working to put Boston on the map as a city where dancers, musicians, historians, game designers, LARPers and puzzle solvers can come together to create something magical!! Nerd power!
We're trying something new, taking storytelling risks by letting the audience drive the show and bringing interaction to the forefront of engagement!
It may all sound crazy, but I've done some crazy stuff. I worked with the Met to build a Clue-based digital game that teens played through the museum (while they were dressed in tophats and monocles of course.) I produced a platform that can let anybody create simple, interactive text-based games and it's currently used by over 5K people every month. I worked with the Army at Fort Lee to help make their Quartermaster troop history training fun and playful (you should see the pictures of soldiers playing- seriously pretty heartwarming.) I bring games into all sorts of crazy places- so why not theater? And with this team?? I think we can do it. Are you with me??
Other Ways You Can Help
I know everybody can't contribute- even $10 is a lot of dollars for a student but if you can't chip in financially, please help me spread the word!! Tweet, Instagram, FB, Snapchat, whatever you use- please share our cause! I promise it's a good one!