Bay Area Children's Theatre Presents THE IMAGINARIES: An Immersive Musical

Coming to life March 5, 2022, Bay Area Children's Theatre has created the first ever immersive theatre experience made specifically for young audiences. Entitled THE IMAGINARIES! Young audiences will enter a world unlike any they have seen before-inspired by the imagination of children.

The Imaginaries: An Immersive Musical centers around the Imaginaries, larger-than-life imaginary friend characters that can enter the human world to help their human child in need at any time. But no one has ever seen a human child enter the imaginary world ... until now. With a new production design that allows for the theater goers to see, feel, touch and experience this live performance, live audiences literally and figuratively enter into the world of imaginary friends and the humans they help.

Nina Meehan, CEO and Founder of Bay Area Children's Theatre (BACT), visioned the immersive concept with her team including Artistic Director, Khalia Davis and Artistic Associate, Austin Zumbro. "The stories we bring to life on stage are FOR young audiences," said Meehan. "So when they come to see those stories, they should feel a sense of ownership. One wonderful way of achieving this is through a total interactive experience. We are breaking the mold of traditional theatre!"

When audiences come to see The Imaginaries!, they are not just watching the show, they will become a part of the show. From choosing what type of imaginary friend they want to be, to being allowed to explore and play on the set before, after and even during the performance, the BACT team has created the environment to allow kids' imaginations run free. The theatre began an overhaul to create a 360-degree set that incorporates structures for playing, climbing, sitting and enjoying the show that are recreations of a child's imagination.

The Imaginaries! musical also includes a corresponding graphic novel series for kids, Pocket Guide for Imaginary Friends that features characters from the show and is currently available on BACT'S website and Amazon. Kids can read and play along with the book both before and after coming to a performance, thus developing a relationship with these characters and these stories. Further as this was envisioned as a trilogy, kids will get to learn and grow with these characters in three different installations with additional books, sticker/activity books, guides, radio play/podcast and other online opportunities that will continue to help promote and model imaginative play and thinking, creative problem solving and what it means to be an imaginary friend. A cast album, instructional videos, music videos and more are also planned.

You can currently purchase the e-book, Pocket Guide for Imaginary Friends (here), the printed version (here). You can get information about tickets (here).