A multi-sensory, site-specific experience refracting ancient Japanese ghost stories through a modern, multi-cultural lens. You receive a letter from a woman who is haunted by a mysterious event in her past—and she needs your help. When you arrive at her family’s warehouse, you ascend to the fifth and sixth floors in a creaking freight elevator, followed by a voice that calls out through the shadows, drowning you in echoes of wells and engines and graveyards, in tangles of hair and snow, in sharp reflections of your darkest moments—a voice that may not be human. A small group of twelve enters a room alone, the walls begins to thin, and a dark spirit stirs within you – will you ever escape it?
Kaidan
Reviews
For those looking to extend their Halloween season a little further, Kaidan Project: Walls Grow Thin is a great thing to do. While not scary, per se, there are moments of extreme creepiness that are sure to satisfy your haunt bug. A wonderful story, great acting, and amazing set design definitely make this worth your time.
With such an ambitious undertaking, wrinkles in the fabric are bound to exist. Further exploration, a refinement of theme, and clarifying the rules for the audience could have made this show great. Still, this is a fascinating look into another world, an admirable experiment, a successful collaboration, and a perfect Halloween event for a discerning theater-goer.
There is a playful, surreality of the whole production. It's not so deep that you will forget who and where you are. But once in the thick of the drama, imaginations are peaked and you too may even become lost in the moment. And oh, the puppets! Rogue Ensemble goes all-out for this production bringing to life this mystical Japanese tradition in intriguing awesome splendor.
Traversing the corridors of Kaidan Project: Walls Grow Thin is a singular theatrical experience. It is one that is decidedly more atmospheric than aggressively gruesome. Unlike some immersive experiences which compel their audience, the feeling in this production is always one of invitation. I suggest you accept.
Sean T. Cawelti's direction manages to pull together a number of technical and artistic talents to create an impressively detailed experience, from Karyn Lawrence's vivid lighting to Adrien Prévost's fine music. Lisa Dring and Chelsea Sutton's writing honors the classic Japanese tales, while Keith Mitchell and Dillon Nelson's scenic design creates a beautiful and macabre world.
Kaidan Project: Walls Grow Thin is an amazing piece of performance art at a haunted warehouse that's willing to take you on a ride in an elevator of a six floor building... One of the best new haunts of SoCal's Halloween season.
It's brilliant, and Rogue/EWP have earned a place in one of the weirdest, coolest supernatural monster traditions on the planet.
This is well and truly immersive, interactive theatre of the highest caliber...The interaction of this seventy-minute magnum opus produces an urgent intimacy between players and audience that sweeps to a stunning climax.
This is truly an ensemble piece, and the talented cast successfully conveys the mystifying and chilling nature of these ageless tales from Japan. Get ready to jump right into the middle of these legends. Although the production can be pretty scary – and so is limited to adults – it is not geared to become terrifying or unduly upsetting to the audience. Memo to all audiences: You will survive the experience, hopefully with a few goosebumps added.
…an immersive theatrical ghost story as artistically beautiful and complex as it is otherworldly…Everything about it is unpredictable, from the design of the space, and how you move through it, to the way they have adapted an ancient Japanese form of storytelling and turned it into a fascinating adventure into the unknown.
A Masterpiece work … 10 out of 10…. The experience is similar to a haunted house experience but with the design sensibility of a very artistic Japanese individual. My mind is still reeling from the experience.
A THOROUGHLY ENTERTAINING TRIP… part haunted house, part art installation, part performance-art piece… increasingly wondrous… lovingly designed to engage a variety of senses.
For those looking to extend their Halloween season a little further, Kaidan Project: Walls Grow Thin is a great thing to do. While not scary, per se, there are moments of extreme creepiness that are sure to satisfy your haunt bug. A wonderful story, great acting, and amazing set design definitely make this worth your time.
With such an ambitious undertaking, wrinkles in the fabric are bound to exist. Further exploration, a refinement of theme, and clarifying the rules for the audience could have made this show great. Still, this is a fascinating look into another world, an admirable experiment, a successful collaboration, and a perfect Halloween event for a discerning theater-goer.
There is a playful, surreality of the whole production. It's not so deep that you will forget who and where you are. But once in the thick of the drama, imaginations are peaked and you too may even become lost in the moment. And oh, the puppets! Rogue Ensemble goes all-out for this production bringing to life this mystical Japanese tradition in intriguing awesome splendor.
Traversing the corridors of Kaidan Project: Walls Grow Thin is a singular theatrical experience. It is one that is decidedly more atmospheric than aggressively gruesome. Unlike some immersive experiences which compel their audience, the feeling in this production is always one of invitation. I suggest you accept.
Sean T. Cawelti's direction manages to pull together a number of technical and artistic talents to create an impressively detailed experience, from Karyn Lawrence's vivid lighting to Adrien Prévost's fine music. Lisa Dring and Chelsea Sutton's writing honors the classic Japanese tales, while Keith Mitchell and Dillon Nelson's scenic design creates a beautiful and macabre world.
Kaidan Project: Walls Grow Thin is an amazing piece of performance art at a haunted warehouse that's willing to take you on a ride in an elevator of a six floor building... One of the best new haunts of SoCal's Halloween season.
It's brilliant, and Rogue/EWP have earned a place in one of the weirdest, coolest supernatural monster traditions on the planet.
This is well and truly immersive, interactive theatre of the highest caliber...The interaction of this seventy-minute magnum opus produces an urgent intimacy between players and audience that sweeps to a stunning climax.
This is truly an ensemble piece, and the talented cast successfully conveys the mystifying and chilling nature of these ageless tales from Japan. Get ready to jump right into the middle of these legends. Although the production can be pretty scary – and so is limited to adults – it is not geared to become terrifying or unduly upsetting to the audience. Memo to all audiences: You will survive the experience, hopefully with a few goosebumps added.
…an immersive theatrical ghost story as artistically beautiful and complex as it is otherworldly…Everything about it is unpredictable, from the design of the space, and how you move through it, to the way they have adapted an ancient Japanese form of storytelling and turned it into a fascinating adventure into the unknown.
A Masterpiece work … 10 out of 10…. The experience is similar to a haunted house experience but with the design sensibility of a very artistic Japanese individual. My mind is still reeling from the experience.
A THOROUGHLY ENTERTAINING TRIP… part haunted house, part art installation, part performance-art piece… increasingly wondrous… lovingly designed to engage a variety of senses.