The clock is ticking…do you cut the red wire or the blue wire? The fate of you and your friends is on the line. Do you have what it takes? That’s exactly what Trapped Toledo aims to find out. Last month, local production company KVCT Concepts, which was formed to produce Trapped Toledo, created the next wave of interactive theater on the local scene. Kimmer Callahan, one of the four owners, said they got the idea from similar productions in other cities, and although none of the principals has a theater background, they used consultants and tweaked the concept until they felt they had created the perfect interactive drama.
Half mind-boggling stress test, half horrifying puzzle game, Trapped Toledo is an immersive challenge where you’re locked in a room with nothing but your wits to save you in a 60-minute race against the clock. “Our goal in creating Trapped Toledo was to focus on the story [and] the theatrical value of the rooms. We want people to believe what we’re telling them,” said Callahan, the chief marketing officer.
Kaboom!
Trapped employs 7 versatile actors who rotate their roles as they guide teams of up to 12 participants in one of two ingeniously crafted scenarios. The first, called Blown Away, has an actor portraying “The Mayor” who employs the help of your team to stop an evil mastermind from detonating a bomb and incinerating 15 square blocks of the city. Once the mayor gets you into his office you’re shown a humorous video of the villain explaining that clues are cleverly hidden virtually everywhere in the room and that the key to saving the city is to work with your team to unlock the briefcase and stop the countdown. And though you may have gotten a chuckle in the beginning, the challenges are anything but funny.
You’d better bring your A game: since the show opened June 21 only one team has figured out how to stop the bomb from blowing everyone to smithereens.
Braaains! You better have ‘em
Unlike the first scenario, which is lightened by some laughs, Infected exudes a very real sense of danger. You and your team are pulled into the University of Toledo medical research labs by a seemingly inept undergrad student, only to find a zombified professor chained to the wall, screeching and lashing out at you. While it might sound campy or silly, like a haunted house or an alien invasion, the actor portraying the zombie prof instills a terrifying sense of fear. Whereas the clock was your only nemesis in Blown Away, the zombie in the room makes things exponentially more difficult, as every 5 minutes the chain restraining the bloodthirsty creature gains a few inches in length.
It’s very easy to find yourself laboring over a riddle and forgetting to pay attention to your surroundings—until the zombie growls, snapping at your neck and scaring the hell out of you. It gets especially difficult to focus on the puzzles during the last few minutes of the challenge when your back is flat against the corner of the room, the only place out of the zombie’s reach.
Overall, Trapped Toledo offers a riotously fun and completely original experience unlike anything else you can find in the Toledo theater scene. It’s a best bet to break up the monotony of the sluggish box office offerings of summer. What better way to find out if your date is “the one” than by seeing what they’re made of under the pressure of a snarling creature breathing down their neck—well, other than you.
Both Blown Away and Infected challenges
will be held throughout the day Wednesday through Sunday through the end of July. You must be 18 or over to purchase tickets,
$25 (group discounts available), available
online https://trappedtoledo.com and at
4400 Heatherdowns Blvd. 567-316-7028.
