Lifestyle

You go to this L.A. play. When you get there, you find out you have 60 minutes to escape

Published

2 years ago

August 17, 2024

You go to this L.A. play. When you get there, you find out you have 60 minutes to escape

A few minutes after the play begins, the actors stop, empty their pockets and repeat their last few lines. And then they do it again. And again. And again. This live approximation of a vinyl record that catches on loop goes on for a few more minutes, the actors getting slightly louder and a tinge more testy as they continue the repetition.

They can’t move, they say, as they are “waiting for Godot.” But they are actually waiting for us, the audience, to get out of our seats, walk onstage and start to piece together a puzzle out of the fragmented pieces of paper they‘ve dropped.

Cards and letters lay on the ground for audience members to discover the next clue.

Melanie Pentecost holds a rock that gives the next context clue to to move the play forward.

This is “Escape From Godot,” an escape room that is also a work of theater — or vice versa. It upends the conventions of both. This is a play in which audience members become participants, the game requiring patrons to hop on the dials and interact with props in order to propel the narrative forward. Puzzles are hidden in the script, ensuring that the players become actors and are in abstract communication with the performers.

But its greatest trick? Inspired by Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot,” the theatrical escape room taps into the themes of the original work, creating an open-for-interpretation piece of playfully interactive art that grapples with existential questions — how we communicate, or fail to, with others, and the balance among selfish behavior, free will and empathy. Like Beckett’s play, there is no Godot who will come, but we are all caught in a world where the mundane, the absurd and our own desire for answers propel us forward.

Our group — I’m playing with seven strangers — hesitates to jump onstage and set the game afoot. It’s a break of decorum, both of theater protocol and personal boundaries. One player nervously scans his ticket, trying to find a missing clue, another flips through a notebook that was placed on her chair and most of us look at each other and whisper questions about what to do. Realizing, after about seven minutes, that there will be no end to “Escape From Godot” if we don’t move, my group begins to hesitatingly work together. In order for the actors to proceed to the next scene, we need to get them a message crafted from the ephemera that they have dropped.

Actor Phil Daddario kicks into the air during his performance.

Daddario wipes sweat from his face while performing.

Audience members look on the ground for context clues to solve the next puzzle.

“I bet you were not the longest group that has sat,” the show’s co-creator, Jeff Crocker, later tells me when I describe those seven minutes of awkwardness. Jeff is one half of Mister & Mischief, an L.A.-based husband-and-wife duo that has crafted experiences for theme parks, zoos, museums and more. (Jeff’s wife, Andy Crocker, recently created a game-like experience for the Los Angeles Public Library system.) “Escape From Godot” is their first escape room.

“Typically, theater-minded folks, the last thing they’re ever going to do is get up onstage in the middle of the scene,” Jeff says. “That’s a hidden puzzle right there. Are you the person who is bold enough to walk onstage in the middle of a performance in order to make this repetition cease? There’s a lot of weird little social bits like that happening.”

“Escape From Godot” premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2018 and has been periodically revived over the years, its latest as part of this months RECON event at the Universal City Hilton, a convention held by escape room aficionado site Room Escape Artist. An initial run of dates through Aug. 25 at Atwater’s Moving Arts Theatre sold out, so “Escape From Godot” has been extended through Sept. 8.

The idea stemmed from Crocker hearing about an escape room in Europe that had taken place throughout a train, a promotional event tied to a film. Joking about potential properties they could base a project on, the Crockers hit on “Waiting for Godot.”

“Andy has a theater degree, and ‘Waiting for Godot’ is classically known as this play where nothing happens,” Jeff says. “To folks who don’t create theater, you hear that as the B-word, boring. It’s a go-to play where people wait for a person who never shows up. There’s more to it than that, and when you see a not-great production of ‘Waiting for Godot,’ it can feel like you want to escape. I’ve seen really great productions of it, and there’s a reason it’s a classic.”

In “Escape From Godot,” puzzles may be hidden in the bowler hats of the performers. Do we ask them to surrender their apparel or wait in the hopes that they will drop them?

Actor Mason Conrad holds a large suitcase while performing in "Escape from Godot."

Actor Justin Okin looks through the stage play script for lines to give audience members context for the next clue.

Like Beckett’s play, characters in questionable physical shape will appear on the stage, but any sense of compassion is soon overtaken by the desire to solve the next puzzle via the props they‘re carrying. Boxes and baskets with locks may be dropped onstage, their combinations found in the monologues of the actors — Justin Okin as GiGi and Bill Salyers as DoDo, stand-ins for Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon.

“Escape From Godot” will even nod to other theatrical works. My favorite puzzle turned out to involve a combination lock affixed to a basket, in which uncovering the solution required us to listen to a monologue that alluded to famous cats in history and culture. “Escape From Godot” won’t even start unless guests solve an initial puzzle, one the necessitates we align our tickets with a theater seating chart and find the correct seat. One could opt not to play, as long as others are, and sit and watch, taking in a script that toys with our place and faith in the world, albeit with a reference to the musical “Cats.”

The longer the audience goes without hitting on the right solution, the louder and faster the monologues will become. It creates tension and tests a group to maintain a sense of calm and patience. Nothing gets too hairy; the silliness of the situation dominates the tone.

"Escape from Godot" actors clap for the audience at the end of the play.

“We purely set out to fulfill our original delightful idea of having fun from escaping from a notoriously monotonous play, but in doing so, as we started to develop what the puzzles were and the way we wanted the audience to interact, it did start to support the themes of the play while also poking a little fun at it,” Jeff says. “You get the little bits of what Beckett was trying to say about what existence wants to be, what belief in God wants to be, but doing it in a way that is mischievous.”

By the time the show ends, roles have been reversed. Members of the audience have been cast as performers and the actors at times became the audience, trapped with repeating dramatic orations while watching us play. It’s a final message that isn’t too divorced from the Beckett text: We’re all performers, too often waiting for a cue.

Lifestyle

Netflix acquires Ben Affleck’s AI company

Published

4 minutes ago

March 7, 2026

Press Room

Netflix acquires Ben Affleck’s AI company

Hollywood A-lister Ben Affleck says his company InterPositive’s AI tools “take out all the logistical, difficult, technical stuff that often gets in the way” of the filmmaking process.

Clive Mason/Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Clive Mason/Getty Images

Netflix is acquiring Ben Affleck’s AI-powered filmmaking tool company, InterPositive, for an undisclosed sum.

In a video accompanying the company’s announcement on Thursday, Ben Affleck said InterPositive’s technology helps filmmakers to build their own, proprietary AI models based on the scenes they’ve already shot, and then use that data to help solve otherwise laborious details.

“You can use your own model to remove the wires on stunts, reframe a shot, get a shot you missed, shape the lighting, enhance the backgrounds,” said the Oscar-winning director, producer, writer and actor, who has also joined Netflix as a senior advisor.

In an email to NPR, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the main union supporting Hollywood’s technical workers, including camera operators, lighting and sound technicians, grips, script supervisors, among other industry disciplines, said it does not comment on mergers and acquisitions.

This is just the latest agreement the Oscar-winning filmmaker has struck with Netflix. Earlier this week, Affleck and Matt Damon’s production company, Artists Equity, signed a major multi-year partnership with the streamer. The agreement gives Netflix first dibs to develop and distribute all of the pair’s future streaming-focused projects. Affleck has also made and released multiple movies in collaboration with Netflix, most recently The Rip, a thriller starring Affleck and Damon as Miami narcotics officers who find a secret hoard of drug money.

Despite his tech interests, Affleck has expressed a desire to keep humans at the center of the creative process. He is among the hundreds of Hollywood insiders to sign on to the Creators Coalition on AI. The group, established late last year, describes itself on its website as “a central hub for cross-industry discussions about how AI is impacting the entertainment industry.”

“This is not a full rejection of AI,” the group stated. “The technology is here. This is a commitment to responsible, human-centered innovation.”

“The InterPositive team is joining Netflix because of our shared belief that innovation should empower storytellers, not replace them,” said Elizabeth Stone, Netflix’s chief product and technology officer, in a press release. She said the partnership would “continue building towards a future of entertainment where technology plays a part in how stories are made, but people — and their ideas, craft and judgment — remain at the core of great storytelling.”

The deal between InterPositive and Netflix comes just over a week since the streamer pulled out of its plan to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery. Paramount agreed to acquire the media giant in a deal valued at around $110 billion. On Feb. 26, the Warner Brothers Discovery board declared Paramount’s bid to be “superior” to an $83 billion deal it had previously struck with Netflix.

Kimberly A. Owczarski, an associate professor at Texas Christian University who studies media franchises, told NPR in an email that Netflix’s decision to partner with a filmmaker of Affleck’s prominence sends out a positive message to an industry reeling from the threats posed by the growing adoption of AI across the entertainment landscape.

“His status in the industry as a star, filmmaker, and producer gives substantial weight as he promotes a responsible use of AI in filmmaking,” Owczarski said.

Jennifer Vanasco edited this story.

Lifestyle

Hailey Bieber Poses For Sexy Selfies In New Luscious Lip Thirst Traps

Published

1 hour ago

March 6, 2026

Press Room

Hailey Bieber Poses For Sexy Selfies In New Luscious Lip Thirst Traps

Hailey Bieber
These Luscious Lips Don’t Lie … I’m Freaking Hot!!!

Published
March 6, 2026
5:58 PM PST

Hailey Bieber is feeling herself … because she whipped out her camera and took a bunch of stunning selfies, and now she’s sharing them with the world.

Check out this new thirst traps from the model and makeup mogul … Hailey’s got a face made for the front camera … and those lips can do all the talking!

hailey bieber insta 4

Hailey posted four photos on Instagram of her face and upper body in a cute, red & black, polka dot top and captioned the post, “clean the front camera. xx.”

Justin Bieber‘s wife is all glammed up for the impromptu photo shoot and is looking her best.

hailey bieber insta 3

Hailey sold her skincare brand, Rhode, last year for a cool $1 BILLION … and her skin’s looking great here.

Lifestyle

‘Hoppers’ is delightfully unhinged and a dam good time

Published

12 hours ago

March 6, 2026

Press Room

‘Hoppers’ is delightfully unhinged and a dam good time

A young environmental activist becomes a beaver and integrates into a forest community in Pixar’s Hoppers.

Disney/Pixar

hide caption

toggle caption

Disney/Pixar

We’re long past the days when the Pixar brand was a reliable indicator of quality, when every other year or so would bring a new masterwork on the level of The Incredibles, Ratatouille and WALL-E. In recent years, the Disney-owned animation studio has succumbed to sequelitis; I didn’t much care for Inside Out 2 or the Toy Story spinoff Lightyear, and even ostensible originals like Soul and Elemental have felt like high-concept disappointments.

So it’s a relief as well as a pleasure to recommend Pixar’s wildly entertaining new movie, Hoppers, without reservation. Directed by Daniel Chong from a script by Jesse Andrews, this eco-themed sci-fi farce may not be vintage or all-time-great Pixar. But its unhinged comic delirium is by far the liveliest thing to emerge from the company in years.

The movie stars Piper Curda as the voice of Mabel Tanaka, a plucky 19-year-old college misfit and environmental activist who lives in the woodsy suburban town of Beaverton. Mabel is more of an animal lover than a people person. She inherited a love of nature from her late grandmother, and she wants nothing more than to protect her favorite place, a forest glade.

The town’s popular mayor, Jerry — amusingly voiced by Jon Hamm — is trying to ram a highway through the area. But to Mabel’s alarm, the busy beavers who made the glade a haven for local wildlife have inexplicably vanished, and they seem to have taken all the other forest critters with them.

While investigating this disturbing situation, Mabel stumbles on a high-tech experiment that’s being conducted by her biology professor, Dr. Sam, voiced by Kathy Najimy. Dr. Sam calls the program Hoppers, because it allows a single human mind to enter, or “hop,” into the body of a robot animal, which can then pass itself off as an actual animal and communicate with real creatures in the wild.

Against Dr. Sam’s wishes, Mabel hops into the robot beaver and makes her way deep into the forest, where she hopes to convince a real beaver to return to the glade — and bring all the other animals back with it.

What Mabel discovers in the forest, though, is not at all what she expected. She encounters a community that includes birds, bunnies, racoons, a very grumpy bear and, of course, other beavers, including the friendly, somewhat naïve beaver king, George, endearingly voiced by Bobby Moynihan. (The movie takes the idea of the animal kingdom quite literally; the enormous vocal ensemble includes the late Isiah Whitlock Jr. as a royal goose, and Meryl Streep as the most imperious monarch butterfly imaginable.)

Mabel Tanaka (voiced by Piper Curda) is a plucky 19-year-old college misfit and environmental activist.

Disney/Pixar

hide caption

toggle caption

Disney/Pixar

George has no idea that Mabel isn’t a real beaver, and he quickly takes a liking to her, even though her efforts to learn why the animals left the glade have a way of getting her and everyone into hot water.

None of this may sound too odd, especially coming just a few months after Zootopia 2. But Hoppers is just getting started; the movie gets funnier, stranger, and more surreal as it goes along. The mind-bending, body-swapping premise has obvious shades of Avatar, which Andrews’ script knowingly shouts out early on.

There are also references to classic horror films like The Birds and Jaws, and for good reason. Hoppers asks the question: What would happen if animals were fully aware of what humans have done to the planet — and suddenly in a position to do something about it? In the final stretch, the film almost becomes a body-snatcher movie, with a level of creepiness that may scare the youngest in the audience, though my 9-year-old laughed far more than she screamed.

I laughed a lot, too; Hoppers is full of funny throwaway lines and oddball non-sequiturs that I expect I’ll hear a hundred more times when it finally makes its way into our streaming rotation. The movie occasionally flirts with darkness, but even Pixar’s daring can only go so far, and its environmental advocacy ultimately lands on an unobjectionable message about how humans and animals can coexist.

That may sound conventional, but it’s borne out beautifully by Mabel and George’s unlikely friendship, which happily continues even after Mabel is no longer a beaver. There’s something fitting about that: for Pixar, Hoppers is nothing short of a return to form.