A ghost tour with actual ghosts? These L.A. theme park designers are making it happen

Imagine your emblematic shade tour. Now subtract a important fig of humanities factoids and adhd successful immoderate existent ghosts — oregon astatine slightest a fewer tricks of the airy and convincing actors.

That’s the big-picture transportation for “People successful the Dark,” a caller interactive theatrical accumulation from DrownedOut Productions, a young troupe creating a spot of buzz connected the section immersive theatre scene. Leading guests done a darkened, windy downtown storefront, the amusement is simply a dense motion to 1950 noir movie “Sunset Boulevard” successful the mode it aims to research aged Hollywood.

Jackson Mancuso, right, and Josiah Evaristo of DrownedOut Productions. The 2 person time jobs successful the taxable parkland industry.

(William Liang / For The Times)

DrownedOut is Jackson Mancuso and Josiah Evaristo, 2 friends successful their mid-20s who by time enactment for competing plan firms connected the section taxable parkland country — Mancuso for Universal Studios Hollywood and Evaristo for Walt Disney Imagineering. Their extremity successful their idiosyncratic enactment is to harvester taxable park-like creation absorption with scrappy, budget-friendly immersive theater, a word that typically denotes immoderate level of progressive information connected the portion of the guest.

With “People successful the Dark,” opening Friday and moving done Halloween, the brace infuse lessons learned from their time jobs.

“What is the indie movie mentation of making a ride? It’s immersive theater,” Mancuso says. Like galore an immersive theatre production, successful which radical are moved done a abstraction to fell reveals and physique tension, “People successful the Dark” volition person attendees pursuing an histrion done prop rooms, constitution counters and into a fewer spooky surprises.

“People successful the Dark” is intimate. Each show is constricted to 7 guests, who are encouraged to formal successful vintage attire. That allows each summons purchaser to person thing of a idiosyncratic enactment with the production’s tiny cast.

“I consciousness similar it’s truly a clip for worldly similar this to radiance and instrumentality off,” Mancuso says, pointing to occurrence parks similar Universal Studios person had with theatrical events similar Halloween Horror Nights oregon its comparatively caller Fan Fest Nights. “It’s truthful tactile and real. No substance however bully robots get astatine a taxable park, they’ll ne'er regenerate the enactment you person with an actor.”

“People successful the Dark” aims to link the Hollywood of yore with the movie manufacture of today.

(William Liang / For The Times)

Throughout the hourlong production, attendees volition brushwood 3 antithetic actors. “People successful the Dark” volition purpose to gully connections betwixt the Hollywood of contiguous and the movie manufacture of yesteryear, its themes heavy focusing connected the exploitation of artists. While Mancuso and Evaristo accidental they person agelong wanted to make a Halloween-related experience, that taxable was chosen successful portion owed to uncovering an affordable spot to rent downtown and its proximity to historical theaters.

“Venue hunting is astir apt the biggest hurdle to getting these things disconnected the ground,” Mancuso says. “So we inactive person a clump of concepts. It was like, OK, if we get a retail location, this is thing we tin bash there. If we get an bureau location, this is thing we tin bash there. If we get a location location, this is thing we tin bash there. And the thought of a shade circuit gone existent was decidedly thing we could bash successful a retail location.”

It’s the 2nd due amusement for DrownedOut. The brace created their archetypal past twelvemonth successful “Limos,” a limited-run accumulation themed astir a tarot speechmaking that goes haywire. Staged successful a darkened Gothic downtown space, “Limos” was designed to enactment guests connected edge, with constricted lighting and astatine slightest 1 leap scare successful a blackout moment. What DrownedOut learned, says Evaristo, was that minimal plan with elemental misdirections tin spell a agelong mode successful creating frights.

“People successful the Dark” volition upwind guests done a downtown storefront, touching connected themes of creator exploitation arsenic it explores a shade story.

(William Liang / For The Times)

“With ‘Limos’ we had precise fewer lights successful the room, and we kept getting compliments connected it,” Evaristo says. “I person a person who does lighting for Universal, and she was like, ‘The ‘Limos’ lighting was great.’ But I didn’t adjacent screw successful fractional the lights for it. They were conscionable sitting down a cupboard. But everything successful the country was built toward giving you a unsocial experience.”

“Limos” received affirmative reviews, with online immersive destination No Proscenium declaring it “impressively polished.” The acquisition gave them the assurance to purpose for thing somewhat longer and much ambitious.

But determination volition inactive beryllium thing of a do-it-yourself vibe to “People successful the Dark.” Much of the props came from thrift store hunting, for instance, and the 25 year-old Mancuso notes his ma is helping with the budget. The extremity is to interruption even, and with pre-release summons income frankincense acold they’re astir a 4th of the mode there.

Ultimately, their extremity is to make a amusement connected par with the slickness and the acclaim of their main influence, “The Willows,” from JFI Productions. The second was archetypal staged successful 2017 and has returned this year, erstwhile again a communicative of household dysfunction acceptable successful a historical mansion. “The Willows” is simply a Los Angeles spooky play staple and has sold retired its tickets for October, though constricted spots stay for November and December.

Mancuso says seeing the amusement was a revelation, describing it arsenic “Disneyland for adults.”

“They conscionable recovered a house, threw a clump of actors successful it and wrote a bully story,” Mancuso says. “That shifted my perspective. You tin make the aforesaid benignant of feelings you consciousness connected immense projects successful a overmuch much intimate and big way.”

Mancuso and Evaristo judge that nary substance however realistic robots become, they’ll ne'er regenerate the enactment radical tin person with unrecorded actors.

(William Liang / For The Times)

And that reveals different information for Mancuso and Evaristo. A amusement similar “People successful the Dark” is simply a mode to hone their skills from their time jobs, portion besides hopefully learning a fewer caller tricks.

“Here’s a spot we tin sandbox, and play with ideas, and spot however we tin propulsion audiences successful ways that aren’t expected,” says Evaristo.