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The Zombie Syndrome:
Dead In The Water
Cannot recommend this unique & fun experience enough!
https://karenklee.com/2016/10/21/the-zombie-syndrome-2016/
@kalyrical
The Fighting Mongooses totally saved the world!! Thanks to our assassin @jpadamson #ZombieSyndrome
@annahahaa
I thought we were all going to die but we saved Canada and the world!! #ZombieSyndrome
@Canaydee
Just survived my mission with #ZombieSyndrome Unfortunately, it is classified information as to what happened, so go out there yourself!
@projectalix
Had a stellar time with #ZombieSyndrome for Dead in the Water, an interactive theatre adventure on @granville_isle for @myvancity #halloween
@courtjester1993
Sadly I'm a mutant zombie vampire. #ZombieSyndrome #Undeadinators
@atchizzy
Had a freaky fun time tonight trying to complete a top secret mission! @thevirtualstage… https://www.instagram.com/p/BLU-PoIB9Wu/
@CiTR_ArtsReport
We failed our mission to defeat the zombies yesterday but that was the most fun I've had in awhile! Thanks @TheVirtualStage #zombiesyndrome
@stephawie
Was amazing and we saved the world, you're all welcome!
- Joyana Tee
Wuhaaaaa I survived and I'm engaged with Dracula! Sorry Josh :D I recommend!
- Veronika Hořejší
Such a great time! Can't wait till next year.
- Dwayne Bennett
Stoked to be recruited by Commander Robert Briton to join him and his crew to fight off The Zombie Syndrome for the 4th time! If you are still looking for fun activities to do this #Halloween in Vancouver, do check out The Virtual Stage's The Zombie Syndrome. Andy and his team always up their game every year and it's one activity I look forward to every Halloween. Thanks Susie for organizing it this year!
- Stephanie Wiriahardja
Thanks Andy Thompson and The Virtual Stage for another fun, exciting, interactive Zombie Syndrome experience!!!
- Dawn Zoe
So much fun!
- Gerry Cartwright Reeves
Another great production by Andy Thompson!
- Thea Jardine
The whole reason for bringing everyone together was @thevirtualstage production of #zombiesyndrome #deadinthewater this mission marks our third year attending and, as it turns out, third time IS a charm! With the addition of the locator app #neartuit it made the experience even better than last year! It was SO much fun and we had the added bonus of saving the world from vampire-zombie mutants! Great day!
- Chawny Ross
Media
The Zombie Syndrome, first and foremost, is an interactive theatre experience whose goal is to freak out its audience. The show itself almost feels like a House of the Dead live-action video game. Right from the beginning it feels more real than you anticipated. Word of warning: there is a bit of running. Supposedly it’s optional, but when there are zombies chasing you and everyone else on your team is fleeing the scene, you end up doing the extra cardio.
- Courtney Miller, The Peak
This blend of gore and gothic is giddy, scary fun! Best experienced rather than read about. It’s a spooky and playful fun with equal parts laughter and screams. Make sure you take some people who are into playing along. It makes the whole experience more fun!
- David C. Jones, OUTtv
I recommend an evening spent with The Virtual Stage’s 5th Annual Zombie Syndrome to experience thrilling escapades with a fun-loving group of strangers, attempting to defeat a menacing, vampiric psychopath. The Virtual Stage is a theatre company in a league of their own. The biggest surprise is arguably not the cunning plot twists or the shocks throughout your journey; rather just how complex and convincing the experience is. Like a good horror movie, you walk away from the event suspicious of every passerby and open door that you see. The Virtual Stage has done a brilliant job of creating a fun, user-friendly experience. The neartuit app technology is easy to use and the story itself is still a delightful way to escape reality for some out of the ordinary, spooky fun.
- Jorin McSween, My Van City
The range of inventive works speaks to the growing popularity of Halloween-time theatre. The site-specific, interactive The Zombie Syndrome is a mainstay on the scene with five years under its rotting belt. The other key to the hit has been its interactivity, including the use of cellphones to help follow clues and solve puzzles.
- Janet Smith, Georgia Straight (preview)
My friends and I had a blast! We were laughing, running for our lives, and also working together as a team--I'd totally recommend this to companies for a team-building exercise. I can't wait to do this again next year--it's too bad we failed this year haha
- Darcy Goodrich, False Creek Yacht Club
"It was a great experience! The interaction was great, between the actors and the zombies. The storyline was good. I think for me this was my favorite experience in Vancouver!"
- Jessica Nelson
Must Close October 31, 2016
Tues to Sun: Shows Every 30 Minutes from 6:30pm to 8:30pm
On Granville Island
For a limited time, groups of 10 or more get 1 free ticket! Click here to inquire!
Tickets on sale now! Click here to visit the box office!
The Virtual Stage presents an all-new, immersive, and spine-tingling theatrical adventure with The Zombie Syndrome: Dead In The Water – October 4 to October 31, 2016 on Granville Island. The fifth annual installment in the company’s smash-hit series will challenge audiences to travel by land and sea as they race to confront a monstrous hybrid of zombies and vampires.
“Last year, we conducted a hugely successful experiment by mixing sci-fi aliens in with the classic undead zombie," says Andy Thompson, The Virtual Stage's award-winning Artistic Director and creator of The Zombie Syndrome. "Encouraged by this, we took to Facebook and polled our audiences on what new type of monster they would like to see in 2016. The overwhelming result was zombie-vampires - and we are thrilled to rise to the challenge.”
The audience’s adventure begins with an investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Special Forces operative Frank Johnson. He was hunting down former government geneticist Mattias Van Cleave, when he fell off the radar. Van Cleave, a suspected vampiric psychopath, is believed to be responsible for a string of recent murders, and the sudden appearance of zombie-vampire mutants across the Lower Mainland. The audience must determine Johnson’s whereabouts and ensure his mission to stop Van Cleave is completed at any cost.
“Since the very first Zombie Syndrome in the streets of Yaletown, back in 2012, the use of smartphones to complete puzzles and navigate routes has been crucial to the audience experience,” Thompson continued. “In our fifth year, we’re going to kick things up a notch by being the first theatre company in Canada to integrate Apple’s innovative new location-based iBeacon hardware in a show. This emerging technology is going to supercharge interactivity and let us do things we’ve always wanted to do – but couldn’t until now.”
The Virtual Stage has teamed with the award-winning innovators behind local company TerraTap Technologies to integrate its mobile content delivery system neartuit into the experience. Audiences will be directed to download the free smartphone app, which will then interact via Bluetooth with location-based iBeacons embedded into each of the show's seven sites. Clues, directions, and narrative content will be pushed to audience smartphones throughout the production, boosting interactivity for teams of up to 18 people as they race against time in their battle against the bloodthirsty forces of darkness.
The exact starting location on Granville Island will remain undisclosed until the day before the mission, when audiences will be contacted via e-mail with their top-secret rendezvous point. Once the audience has gathered, they will be assigned various ‘specialist’ roles before embarking on an exciting, high-stakes adventure to save the human race.
Video by Corwin Ferguson. Photo of model Sarah Omran by Emily Cooper Photography. Makeup by Elizabeth M. Makeup Artist.
Participants are encouraged to wear walking shoes, dress for the weather, and be prepared to move. As the stars of the show, the audience travels from site-to-site, gathers clues from sudden allies, and faces a slew of challenges they must overcome in order to proceed to the next scene. While racing against the clock, teams will be encouraged to maintain constant vigilance - given what ghoulish and frightening characters may be lurking just out of plain sight.
For more information, updates, and declassified information regarding this year’s mission, follow The Virtual Stage on Twitter: @TheVirtualStage, ‘like’ The Zombie Syndrome on Facebook, or visit: The Virtual Stage’s FAQ page. Be sure to tweet about your mission’s success or failure and announce your team’s score with the hashtag: #ZombieSyndrome.
Production Team
Director, Playwright & Producer - Andy Thompson
Production Manager - Tee Crane
Stage Manager - Josephine Gray
Costume Design & Site Manager - Natalie Collins
Technical Director & Site Manager - Michael Brooks
Story - Tyler Clarke, Finn Ghosh-Leudke & Andy Thompson
Youth Liaison - Amelia MacKenzie-Gray-Hyre
Marketing & Communications - Murray Paterson Marketing Group (MPMG)
MPMG Account Manager - Sarah Ghosh
Makeup Design & Coordination - Elizabeth McLeod
neartuit iBeacon App Developers - Judy Hamilton & D'Arcy Smith (TerraTap)
Additional Visual Content Design - Corwin Ferguson
Site Managers - Giovanni (Gio) Zarata & Milan Mitrovic
Starring
Christina Brownell
Evan Gilmore
Jared Hubicka
Jennifer Hughes
Miranda Rose Pavelic
Rowan Jang
Ryan Speckeen
Sarah Omran
Sinead Grewcock
Tyler Clarke
Wael Ribe
Featuring
Aly Benoit
Amelia MacKenzie-Gray-Hyre
Arushan Varatharajah
Boston Bjork
Cameron Paisley
Casey Strandquist
Chase Prior
David Lowe
Emily Hoff
Erika Dawe
Hariny Selvarajah
Ian Bautista
Jarrett MacFarlane
Kelly Chan
Kristian Arpilleda
Mandy Zhou
Mariah Cassity
Milan Mitrovic
Parmida Bakhshi
Sophie Labrie
Tom Nguyen
Zhengyuan Li
Zorn Rose
Links to Past Zombie Syndrome Productions
The Zombie Syndrome (Downtown Vancouver 2012)
The Zombie Syndrome: On Death Island (Granville Island 2013)
On Death's Door: Plague of the Zombie Syndrome (Gastown 2014)
Alien Contagion: Rise of The Zombie Syndrome (Trout Lake 2015)