HURON — The Tribeca Film Festival is known around the world as a launching pad for the careers of writers, directors and actors. And this year’s festival, which wrapped up on June 20, had a little bit of Huron in its makeup.
“The Severance Theory: Welcome to Respite,” is the first of a planned four-part series that mines the evolving field of live action virtual reality. It was part of this year’s Immersive Theater portion of the renowned festival, and “Welcome to Respite” boasts Huron High School graduate Braden Roy as its co-writer and adapter.
“The production was very well received at the festival,” said Roy from his home in Sioux Falls this past week. “More than 300 people can through and were audience members and participated in the production and we had a great deal of feedback from both those in attendance, as well as by those participating remotely, through email after they were done.”
“Welcome to Respite,” follows the character of “Alex,” a child described as having a troubled past. At the risk of being a spoiler, the character visits his family home after his mother’s passing and it brings up forgotten childhood memories. But it is not a flashback production, where the writer and director lead the viewer on a journey.
In this type of production, the viewer participates, and, to some extent, guides the storyline.
“The player, or in the case of Tribeca, an audience member, controls everything that he or she does,” Roy said, “all movement. If you turn your head or move your arm, that movement is transferred to your avatar on the screen. We set it so the production flows by the actions and words of the player.”
Two other people, associated with the game, play the other parts in the production, including the mother and father. Because of the live theater aspect of “Welcome to Respite,” other productions will be scheduled, when the whole event is available to the public. More on that availability later.
Roy is the son of Duane and LeAnn Roy, and he moved here at a young age from Sioux Falls. He graduated from Huron High School in 2006.
While he is an integral part of the production team - in addition to writing Roy played a character during the festival - he didn’t travel to New York to participate. That is one of the huge benefits of doing things through virtual reality - you don’t have to be there to do it.
“Between being incredibly busy right now on our next project, as well as the unknown predictability of a hotel’s Wi-Fi, led me to stay home and participate remotely,” Roy said.
Virtual reality itself has been around for some time, he noted. “There were professors on a campus somewhere that created a virtual world, but it was confined to that campus.”
Now, of course, the world of virtual reality has stretched around the world and encompasses players of all ages. But what Roy and his team is doing breaks the norm of what is expected in any other game…or movie…or live theater….or.
“We just call them shows or productions,” he said with a chuckle. “They are not completely scripted and they are live and the part not played by you as Alex are played by actual live people. What we are doing is kind of breaking new ground, so we have the luxury of labeling it as we go.”
“Welcome to Respite,” participants are given instruction and direction through and the production is a psychological-thriller that both help and haunt people, through the lens of a mental illness call Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), which was formerly known as multiple personality disorder. The production is designed for entertainment, but it is the production team’s intent to use the platform to promote empathy of those struggling with mental illness.
Roy added that it deals with things that are done and the ripples of trauma that actions can take. And it has an effect on people.
“There was a woman who left feedback that she was moved to tears by her participation,” Roy said, “while another said there was the sensation of catharsis. And one person said that he was able to sit and have a heart-to-heart discussion with his ‘father,’ something he was otherwise unable to do, as his father has been very distant.”
Prior to “Welcome to Respite,” is the third production for Roy, who was the writer on two other titles, “PARA,” which is a horror experience at the intersection of immersive theater and VR. After “PARA” came “Krampusnacht,” which takes a group of audience members to a small Austrian village, to experience Christmas holiday festivities. An avalanche re-directs them and the production escalates into a fight between the forces of light and darkness.
“I was the writer on the two prior productions,” Roy said, “And I have written part two of The Severance Theory.”
“Welcome to Respite” will be available for the general public to begin scheduled interactions, but that release will be delayed.
“Right now,” Roy said, “we are being considered for some international film festivals - some of them very well known - and they aren’t so keen on it being out in the general public ahead of time.”
So, if people want to immerse themselves in Alex’s world at some point, how can they do that?
“I would suggest that anyone who is interested go to our website - www.welcometorespite.com - look around and then sign up to get email updates.” That way, he said, when the show is released people will know and will be able to go online and schedule a time. “Anyone with a VR headset can participate. And $250 to $300 will get you a good headset anymore.”
As expected, most of those interacting with the production during Tribeca were somewhat younger.
“About 75% of those participating at Tribeca were over 30 years of age,” Roy said. “And of that group, 25% sere in the 40-50 age range.”
So, when not creating dark storylines for his next project, what does Roy like to do when he straps on his VR headset?
“Well, I have little spare time right now,” he said, “however there is a game called Beat Saber, where players must slice emerging colored blocks with lightsabers in your hand. Also “Tetris Effect,” a version of the original game, although with wildly interactive audio and visuals.
“All of the stories I have written are a little dark – many of the people involved, myself included, are horror enthusiasts,” he said. “I would like to tell other stories – kind of focus on the whimsy and take advantage of the VR aspects available, in different ways.”
Roy encourages those with a desire to create in the VR world is just get started and keep going.
“All the tools we used to create Welcome to Respite are entirely and completely free,” he said. “And there is a community out there to guide and help you learn and become involved. Dive in. Don’t be intimidated. There is really no wrong way to do it.”
