A New Interactive Theatrical Experience Comes To Patchogue

Getting original work off the ground on Long Island is a very different process that would exist in the city where you might have financial backing from producers wanting to ride your coattails should the concept become successful. So how do you take a risk on something new in a market that wants to see big flashy musicals? You turn to something else that's also in high demand - Escape Rooms.

Shawn Thorgersen, a Teacher by day, and one of the founders/producers at ThinkBIG Theater Arts in Patchogue by night, has blended two of his passions together into a unique theatrical experience that has yet to be attempted on Long Island. In Pieces - A Thriller with Multiple Endings is part Original Play, part Escape Room.

The script consists of a series of vignettes, each with their own themes and elements. The cast of four, comprised of Long Island notables Ed Cress, K.D. Guadagno, Brendan Noble, and newcomer Deana M. Naja, take on multiple roles throughout the vignettes. You, as an audience member, have the task to find out if and how the stories are connected. In doing so, you may or may not be able to discern a secret password and who among the four is the killer. Based on your guesses, the ending will change, and only at the curtain call will it be revealed to you if you guessed correctly or not. Audience members will be left wanting to come back again and again to see how their choices play out.

Director, Jason Forella, has been working hard with the cast since late July/early August. When working with new material, it creates a monumental task of taking these characters that only exist on paper, and applying them to real life. Forella and the cast spent the first few rehearsals solely diving into their individual character tracks, creating back stories, defining relationships, and establishing goals. Together, the cast and creative team is also tasked with the job of giving the audience just enough to possibly figure out the answers with just the right amount of subtlety, much like an escape room

Do you think you have what it takes to figure out the pieces of the puzzle? In Pieces will run from October 18th - October 27th at ThinkBIG Theater Arts, located at 42 South Ocean Avenue, Patchogue, NY, 11772. Ages 13+. Tix (631) 307-4042 or www.ThinkBigTheaterArts.org

"In a small town plagued by a string of murders, we follow a series of haunting short stories that may ultimately help the audience decide which of four characters is the murderer-and decipher a secret password to help the innocents escape certain doom."