James wrote and creative director for this pop-up immersive experience that was more than a little inspired by the Fallout video games and classic Bethesda faction quests. The show was built on a shoestring budget for a blackbox theater showcase, which is what inspired the setting of a bomb shelter. The creative team did most of the acting as well. The experience ran about twelve minutes through three “rooms” and four stations. The parts of the engineering and security chiefs were triple cast so that multiple audience groups could be in the space on separate storylines at the same time. Groups were identified by group when they were handed their colored lanyards so the actors knew which guests they were the hero characters for to give them plot dialogue. Any other guests they would be just got the job and direct them to a their “boss” instead. The sound design hid secret audio clues for the timing of guest movement. The finale scene was tailored for just one group at a time and would be led by their hero performers in a climactic showdown. The format allowed every group to experience a full show without being rushed. The second act could breath and feel like there were lots of characters and other guests to interact with, and every four minutes the group who had been in act 2 the longest would be nudged into the end room of the show by their chosen handler. Regardless which side they chose, the other side would make an appearance at the end to offer one last chance to change the fate of the vault!
