Dive Into the Cabinet of Curiosities and Impossibilities With Immersive Play at Museum of Outdoor Arts

The Denver arts scene is carving out a unique niche for itself in the world of immersive theater. Not only did the Denver Center for the Performing Arts host a massive gathering for immersive artists from around the world last year, but there are several local troupes dedicated to furthering the cutting-edge art form.

"People are coming here and saying Denver is cool, because when you're from New York, Broadway dominates the structure of everything," says Lonnie Hanzon, a visual artist and local immersive-scene leader who has created experiential events such as Camp Christmas. "You go to Los Angeles, and the movie industry dominates; in Orlando, the dominant form is the theme park, so you live in that world. Denver, having been so blank for so long, provides psychic and physical space for this type of work to blossom because we have strong theater and music, but there is room and freedom to put together immersive work."

Take, for example, Impossible Things, an immersive-theater production running from Saturday, May 25, to June 16 at the Museum of Outdoor Arts at Marjorie Park. The outdoor experience is the brainchild of the Catamounts, Hanzon Studios and MOA.
Directed by Amanda Berg Wilson and written by Colorado playwright Jessica Austgen, the show uses Hanzon's celebrated Cabinet of Curiosities and Impossibilities art installation to supplement a whimsical journey at a graduation party. The story is centered around Alex, a nonbinary graduate unsure of their future, who receives conflicting advice from family members at the party. What follows is a surrealist exploration of childhood memories and future possibilities.

"You are invited to Alex's graduation party as yourself," Berg Wilson explains. "You walk into the gates and you're at the party; there's no front of the house. You're at the party, and the whole first fifteen minutes of the show are about being at the party, so it's unscripted. I don't want to give away too many of the tricks of the trade, but you will be engaged at the party in very fun ways as yourself, unscripted. Its audience and characters are all in the same space, in the same world and in the same experience, right from the get-go. Then there is a rift, and you're thrown into a less concrete world."

The project began when Hanzon approached Berg Wilson with a proposal after the Museum of Outdoor Arts announced it would create a permanent space for his Cabinet of Curiosities and Impossibilities. The original installation was born out of a group art exhibition in 2009 at MOA's former headquarters in Englewood. It became a semi-permanent exhibit and was a popular pick among patrons for more than a decade.
Then MOA moved to its Marjorie Park location at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre in 2022, and the exhibit was put into storage. However, in April 2023, the museum confirmed that Hanzon would receive a 400-square-foot building on the property to serve as the permanent home for a reimagined Cabinet of Curiosities and Impossibilities, which opened in April with many new treasures. Hanzon also persuaded the museum to host an immersive-theater experience there.

Berg Wilson instantly agreed to Hanzon's proposal. "I've been a big fan of Lonnie's, and we're colleagues in the emerging immersive field in Colorado," she explains. During her first visit to the space, she was struck by the installation's references to fairy tales, nursery rhymes and Alice in Wonderland. As the mother of a teenage girl, she immediately began to reflect on her daughter's childhood and current transition to adulthood.

"She is emerging from childhood and becoming her own person; as a parent, you have so many expectations for the adult that your child will become," Berg Wilson says. "I was thinking about rituals that mark the transition from childhood to adulthood. ... We started thinking about what could be a show that could include the [installation] that could take place in Marjorie Park, and decided on a graduation party."
Based on this initial inspiration, the creative team came up with a narrative that is as fluid and unpredictable as the installation it complements. Audience members will be divided into groups of twelve and rotated through various scenes set in the picturesque park.

"The Cabinet is amazing but quite small, so we knew it would be a part of the experience, but we could not make a whole show in it," explains Berg Wilson. This logistical challenge became an artistic opportunity, leading the team to utilize various locations within the park, including a Zen garden and other settings that enhance the story. In this and other ways, the collaborative process deviated from traditional theater-making.

"Instead of it being a very linear process in which a playwright writes a play and then there is a director and actors and all these things that get lined up, you have this place, the Cabinet, and you have some ideas — a writer, a director, and you have creative friction," Hanzon says, comparing the process to jazz. "The same is true for Camp Christmas and all of the projects I work on; we use a wide range of skills and languages. That is what maximalism is all about: using all of the languages and trying to push them to the center."
As audience members navigate the party, they are thrown into Alex's inner turmoil and indecision about their future. The experience is designed to make attendees feel like they are part of the graduate's journey, engaging with characters who represent different facets of Alex’s life and internal conflict.

"Essentially, Alex is graduating; Alex doesn't know what they want to do, and everybody in the family knows exactly what Alex should do," Berg Wilson explains. "And Alex is like, 'I don't know how to make this big life decision in this way that you're telling me I have to make it right now,' so their journey is them wrestling with how they're going to decide who to become. At that age, who you become is sometimes wrapped up with where you go."
The immersive structure ensures that each participant will have a unique experience. Guests are encouraged to dress in their best "roaming garden party attire," as they will traverse different parts of the park and interact with the narrative. Audience participation is encouraged but not mandatory. According to Austgen, that means lowering "the barrier of participation" for attendees. "They're not expected to drive the story; they're there as party guests, and a party guest is essentially a witness to a life event," the playwright explains. "We just asked them to remain in that guest-witness role and assist and input with our characters, but at no point do they have to drive the plot, and at no point can they make a mistake and break the play."

All of the creators acknowledge that the term "immersive" has become a buzzword. However, their experience is processional, with Hanzon comparing Impossible Things to a "dark ride" at an amusement park in which attendees "are being directed where to go, and you will go through a series of scenes and, in this case, in different orders than anybody else."
Impossible Things is a testament to Denver's immersive-theater scene, which challenges traditional theater norms and offers audiences new ways to engage with stories and art. “The same way that Chicago became known for improv, Denver is becoming known for immersive," Austgen says. "We're recognized now."

And as the production prepares to open, Impossible Things also serves as an example of the creative possibilities that exist when artists from different disciplines join forces. “We talk a lot about collaboration, but this is one of the truest," Hanzon reflects. "In Shakespeare, you serve the word; in our case, we serve the world. We are all in a circle — all the arts and languages. We're all driving to the center of a world, trying to build that world, and not in a vacuum or in a stepped fashion. It's all at the same time. The audience is central to the action in each scene, so for those who want to, there are participatory opportunities in every scene, and then the introverts can just be at the party and have a drink."

Impossible Things previews on Saturday, May 25; regular run continues Sunday, May 26, through June 16, Museum of Outdoor Arts, 6331 South Fiddler's Green Circle, Greenwood Village. Get tickets at thecatamounts.org.