Forget phone-taps and email hacks, what if someone could invade your very mind? In The Institute, participants must work together to free the mind of a brainwashed special agent, while a shadowy intelligence agency and a secretive research institute both vie for the knowledge trapped within it. Part puzzle game, part multimedia theater, The Institute allows players to explore a surreal mental landscape, while forcing them to confront questions about power, privacy, security, and the murky shades of grey between them.
The Institute featured both live performance...
...and recorded media.
Not only did participants interact with cast members...
...they also solved puzzles involving tangible elements such as photographs...
...documents...
...bottles of unidentified scents...
...and even a custom-made music box that only plays the correct song when assembled in the right way.
The Institute was performed at the Game Play Festival 2015, at the Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

Written and Directed By
Sharang Biswas & Clio Davis
Created By
Clio Davis, Sharang Biswas, Kyle Greenberg, Erin Finnegan, Monique Naoum, Yu Ji, Michelle Chandra

World by
Sharang Biswas, Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Pierre Depaz and Adam Jackrel

Starring
Vincent Cooper, Corey Roberts, Charlyn Brea, Melissa Mejias Parker, Nick Tyson, Nicholas Hubbard, Clara F Pagone, Jerllin Cheng, Andres Taracuik, Amelia Winger-Bearskin

Cinematography
Nick Tyson, Jerllin Cheng

Editing
Jerllin Chencg, Clio Davis, Sharang Biswas

Physical Computing
Jonathan Sparks

Lighting
Elizabeth M Stewart 

Projections and Animation
Melissa Mejias Parker, Kyle Greenberg, Sharang Biswas

Sound
Kyle Greenberg, Clio Davis

Graphic Design
Monique Naoum

Music
“Brian’s Song” written by Clio Davis, Performed by Clio Davis and Corey Roberts
"Mistake the Getaway", “Clean Soul” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) 
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Special Thanks
Shawn Van Every, Andrew Lazarow, Gabe Barcia-Colombo

Made Possible by the ITP-Google Experiments in Storytelling Grant
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