Growing up, Maxwell O’Neill’s childhood home was filled with relics of the past — vinyl records, CDs, VHS tapes —treasures collected by his father and lovingly preserved.
"When I was younger, I made a smart-ass joke and started calling it the ‘Museum of Obsolete Technology,’ which my dad loved," O'Neill says. "My entire family clung onto that joke and we've been calling his collection that for years."
That name lingered in O’Neill’s mind, and when it came time to create his first original immersive theater production, he knew exactly what the world should be called. Opening Thursday, May 1 at the People’s Building in Aurora, Remember Me, directed and written by O'Neill, invites audiences into a fictional Museum of Obsolete Technology, where forgotten gadgets are the keys to solving the mystery of the institution's founding family.
At the center of the experience's story is Alice Flagg, a daughter searching for her missing father through the museum he never got to open. Guided by Alice, audience members work alongside her to uncover clues hidden in old cassettes, overhead projectors and other nostalgic tech.
"Henry Flagg is Alice's dad, and he's built the museum," O'Neill says. "He was never able to open it while he was around so Alice is opening it for him and there are pieces of him left throughout the museum. It's reminiscent of a play that I really love, and it's also a big inspiration called Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett. It's a short piece where Krapp is onstage listening to tapes of himself in the past, and that's how you get his character from old pieces of media."
The show marks the debut of One More Time, O’Neill’s new immersive theater company, created to bring original, interactive experiences to life. After years of working behind the scenes on other productions around Denver, he wanted to tell stories on his own terms.
"I've been kicking around the idea of having a company for a while," he says. "I went through some names, and I liked One More Time. Before our last show, I'd always go to people and be like, ‘one more time,’ so that's kind of the sentiment behind it. The name also encourages people to come back to see the stuff they didn't see the first time through."
The opportunity to stage the company's first show came through Two Cent Lion, a Denver-based company known for queer-centered theater and its Pay-What-You-Can ticketing model. Kevin Douglas, Two Cent's executive director, had met O'Neill during their time studying at the University of Denver, and he has since designed the lighting for all of the company's shows.
"Max told me about this immersive experience that combined puzzle elements with the premise of nostalgic technology and the father-daughter relationship at its core," Douglas says. "When he sent me the script, it was something that I immediately thought was really intriguing. Remember Me appealed to the immersive theater nerd in me, but also the escape room nerd in me."
Early drafts focused more on futuristic ideas like AI and internet culture, but through feedback and development, O’Neill honed the emotional core: the relationship between a father and daughter. Douglas encouraged O’Neill to lean into that connection.
"What was really strong from the get-go was the premise and the use of technology," he says. "There was a mystery around where the father had gone, but I wanted to care more about this father-daughter relationship. From our experience with immersive theater, you get more buy-in when people have that emotional spark to the characters within the story."
The production came together after Two Cent made the difficult decision to postpone its planned spring show, Hands Like Yours, originally scheduled for May 3–11. Created and directed by Izzy Chern, Two Cent co-founder, and May Wadsworth, the show is an interview-based devised performance and true love story told through dance, projections and real-life interviews with queer women.
“We're all really passionate about Hands Like Yours,” Douglas says. “We want to give it our all when we do present it and we just realized the development of the piece called for a little more time."
With fellow co-founder Gracie Jacobson abroad in Scotland getting their master's and Douglas now serving as operations manager at Telluride Theatre, the logistical demands of the production — particularly its ensemble structure, layered movement and integration of interview material — proved too complex to mount on a tight timeline.
“We really want to give that piece the care and attention it needs," Douglas says. Hands Like Yours is now slated to be featured in an upcoming Two Cent season. Instead of letting their May dates at the People’s Building go unused, Two Cent turned to a trusted collaborator.
“Because Max had already shared Remember Me with us and was ready to go, he was the first person we approached,” Douglas says. “Collaboration is something I'm really excited about because it feels like a win-win in so many ways. Being able to combine forces can double the people you're reaching."
For O’Neill and his co-producer Frieda Dunkelberg, the invitation offered not only a chance to finally bring Remember Me to life but also an opportunity to establish One More Time’s place in Denver’s growing independent immersive scene.
"There's a lot of room here in Denver for more independent immersive work," Dunkelberg says. "We're getting a lot of bigger, national touring immersive shows but there is so much room for us to cultivate a community here that's more local."
From the moment audiences step through the lobby of the People’s Building, they are immersed in the Museum of Obsolete Technology. Vintage artifacts spill across the space, museum attendants greet guests with pamphlets, and Alice herself soon appears, inviting visitors to help her dig through the memories her father left behind.
“We're closing down the traditional theater space with curtains and soft goods to really make it feel like you're walking through a real museum exhibition,” Dunkelberg says. “Wonderfully enough, Delanie Stevens, our stage manager, also has taken a course in museum planning. Delanie has actually helped us figure out the layout that most resembles actual museum installations, so it's going to look like what you’d see at a real art or science museum."
Rather than presenting a single fixed narrative, Remember Me allows visitors to engage at their own pace. Groups of up to twenty can choose how to interact with the museum’s artifacts, uncover hidden clues and piece together Henry Flagg’s story.
“The puzzles all require you to actually use the old tech,” O’Neill says. “You're going to use an overhead projector. You're going to turn on a Game Boy. You're going to utilize the museum's vintage technology to solve the mystery."
While O’Neill has plenty of ideas for future productions, he and Dunkelberg are deliberately keeping their focus tight for now. “Honestly, we're just trying to get this one out the door and make it the best it can be,” Dunkelberg says. "However, I know Max has other projects in mind, which we will start working on after we open this show."
For now, their energy is centered on Remember Me — a show that feels especially resonant in this moment. The experience isn’t just a nostalgic adventure through forgotten gadgets; it’s a meditation on why memory matters and what’s at stake when we let it slip away.
“My big hope for Remember Me is that people will come out and they will not only get to learn about the world that we've created for them to come into, but that they learn a little bit about themselves, too," Dunkelberg says. "This show talks a lot about memory and how we can't get distorted things because we don't like them."
In a time when political attacks on knowledge, history and truth are escalating, the message behind Remember Me feels more urgent than ever.
“We can't let ourselves rewrite things because they're hard," Dunkelberg says. "You need to sit with them. You need to live with them. You need to confront them and also see the joy in it, even if it's hard. That's what I really want people to walk away from this show with — that feeling and that wanting to remember."
Remember Me opens Thursday, May 1, and runs through Sunday, May 11, at the People's Building, 9995 East Colfax Avenue, Aurora. Tickets are on a pay-what-you-can sliding scale ($17 to $25). Learn more at thepeoplesbuilding.com.
"When I was younger, I made a smart-ass joke and started calling it the ‘Museum of Obsolete Technology,’ which my dad loved," O'Neill says. "My entire family clung onto that joke and we've been calling his collection that for years."
That name lingered in O’Neill’s mind, and when it came time to create his first original immersive theater production, he knew exactly what the world should be called. Opening Thursday, May 1 at the People’s Building in Aurora, Remember Me, directed and written by O'Neill, invites audiences into a fictional Museum of Obsolete Technology, where forgotten gadgets are the keys to solving the mystery of the institution's founding family.
At the center of the experience's story is Alice Flagg, a daughter searching for her missing father through the museum he never got to open. Guided by Alice, audience members work alongside her to uncover clues hidden in old cassettes, overhead projectors and other nostalgic tech.
"Henry Flagg is Alice's dad, and he's built the museum," O'Neill says. "He was never able to open it while he was around so Alice is opening it for him and there are pieces of him left throughout the museum. It's reminiscent of a play that I really love, and it's also a big inspiration called Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett. It's a short piece where Krapp is onstage listening to tapes of himself in the past, and that's how you get his character from old pieces of media."
The show marks the debut of One More Time, O’Neill’s new immersive theater company, created to bring original, interactive experiences to life. After years of working behind the scenes on other productions around Denver, he wanted to tell stories on his own terms.
"I've been kicking around the idea of having a company for a while," he says. "I went through some names, and I liked One More Time. Before our last show, I'd always go to people and be like, ‘one more time,’ so that's kind of the sentiment behind it. The name also encourages people to come back to see the stuff they didn't see the first time through."
The opportunity to stage the company's first show came through Two Cent Lion, a Denver-based company known for queer-centered theater and its Pay-What-You-Can ticketing model. Kevin Douglas, Two Cent's executive director, had met O'Neill during their time studying at the University of Denver, and he has since designed the lighting for all of the company's shows.
"Max told me about this immersive experience that combined puzzle elements with the premise of nostalgic technology and the father-daughter relationship at its core," Douglas says. "When he sent me the script, it was something that I immediately thought was really intriguing. Remember Me appealed to the immersive theater nerd in me, but also the escape room nerd in me."
Early drafts focused more on futuristic ideas like AI and internet culture, but through feedback and development, O’Neill honed the emotional core: the relationship between a father and daughter. Douglas encouraged O’Neill to lean into that connection.
"What was really strong from the get-go was the premise and the use of technology," he says. "There was a mystery around where the father had gone, but I wanted to care more about this father-daughter relationship. From our experience with immersive theater, you get more buy-in when people have that emotional spark to the characters within the story."
The production came together after Two Cent made the difficult decision to postpone its planned spring show, Hands Like Yours, originally scheduled for May 3–11. Created and directed by Izzy Chern, Two Cent co-founder, and May Wadsworth, the show is an interview-based devised performance and true love story told through dance, projections and real-life interviews with queer women.
“We're all really passionate about Hands Like Yours,” Douglas says. “We want to give it our all when we do present it and we just realized the development of the piece called for a little more time."
With fellow co-founder Gracie Jacobson abroad in Scotland getting their master's and Douglas now serving as operations manager at Telluride Theatre, the logistical demands of the production — particularly its ensemble structure, layered movement and integration of interview material — proved too complex to mount on a tight timeline.
“We really want to give that piece the care and attention it needs," Douglas says. Hands Like Yours is now slated to be featured in an upcoming Two Cent season. Instead of letting their May dates at the People’s Building go unused, Two Cent turned to a trusted collaborator.
“Because Max had already shared Remember Me with us and was ready to go, he was the first person we approached,” Douglas says. “Collaboration is something I'm really excited about because it feels like a win-win in so many ways. Being able to combine forces can double the people you're reaching."
For O’Neill and his co-producer Frieda Dunkelberg, the invitation offered not only a chance to finally bring Remember Me to life but also an opportunity to establish One More Time’s place in Denver’s growing independent immersive scene.
"There's a lot of room here in Denver for more independent immersive work," Dunkelberg says. "We're getting a lot of bigger, national touring immersive shows but there is so much room for us to cultivate a community here that's more local."
From the moment audiences step through the lobby of the People’s Building, they are immersed in the Museum of Obsolete Technology. Vintage artifacts spill across the space, museum attendants greet guests with pamphlets, and Alice herself soon appears, inviting visitors to help her dig through the memories her father left behind.
“We're closing down the traditional theater space with curtains and soft goods to really make it feel like you're walking through a real museum exhibition,” Dunkelberg says. “Wonderfully enough, Delanie Stevens, our stage manager, also has taken a course in museum planning. Delanie has actually helped us figure out the layout that most resembles actual museum installations, so it's going to look like what you’d see at a real art or science museum."
Rather than presenting a single fixed narrative, Remember Me allows visitors to engage at their own pace. Groups of up to twenty can choose how to interact with the museum’s artifacts, uncover hidden clues and piece together Henry Flagg’s story.
“The puzzles all require you to actually use the old tech,” O’Neill says. “You're going to use an overhead projector. You're going to turn on a Game Boy. You're going to utilize the museum's vintage technology to solve the mystery."
While O’Neill has plenty of ideas for future productions, he and Dunkelberg are deliberately keeping their focus tight for now. “Honestly, we're just trying to get this one out the door and make it the best it can be,” Dunkelberg says. "However, I know Max has other projects in mind, which we will start working on after we open this show."
For now, their energy is centered on Remember Me — a show that feels especially resonant in this moment. The experience isn’t just a nostalgic adventure through forgotten gadgets; it’s a meditation on why memory matters and what’s at stake when we let it slip away.
“My big hope for Remember Me is that people will come out and they will not only get to learn about the world that we've created for them to come into, but that they learn a little bit about themselves, too," Dunkelberg says. "This show talks a lot about memory and how we can't get distorted things because we don't like them."
In a time when political attacks on knowledge, history and truth are escalating, the message behind Remember Me feels more urgent than ever.
“We can't let ourselves rewrite things because they're hard," Dunkelberg says. "You need to sit with them. You need to live with them. You need to confront them and also see the joy in it, even if it's hard. That's what I really want people to walk away from this show with — that feeling and that wanting to remember."
Remember Me opens Thursday, May 1, and runs through Sunday, May 11, at the People's Building, 9995 East Colfax Avenue, Aurora. Tickets are on a pay-what-you-can sliding scale ($17 to $25). Learn more at thepeoplesbuilding.com.
