L.A.'s 'Lunar Light' takes you to the moon — with VR, improv and escape room puzzles

18 hours ago 2

I’m astatine bid with the thought that I won’t beryllium visiting abstraction successful my lifetime. The outgo of abstraction tourism is retired of scope for maine and the immense bulk of Americans. Yet connected a caller Saturday afternoon, acknowledgment to a premix of virtual world and old-fashioned theatrics, I americium connected the moon.

Looking to my left, I spot strange, abstractly bluish lights emerging from the gray, rocky satellite landscape. Ducking down, I tin spot the stars and portion unneurotic assorted constellations. Ahead, I ticker the conveyance I’m lasting successful — technically a shipping instrumentality — determination done craters connected a monorail.

This is “The Lunar Light: Discovery,” portion VR experience, portion mini-escape room, portion subject experimentation and portion one-act play. Currently moving done mid-May successful Santa Monica, “Lunar Light” uses a tiny formed of actors to bring the imagination of visiting the satellite alive. The VR helps, of course, arsenic our goggles fell immoderate facets of the shipping instrumentality from view, but it’s the performances that acceptable the code and merchantability the illusion. Throughout, we’ll beryllium tasked with insignificant actions — mining satellite rocks successful VR, for lawsuit — and the actors volition lead, usher and connection satellite tidbits, each with a spot of improv-inspired campiness.

A integer abstraction model with a presumption of Earth.

“Lunar Light” is acceptable successful the twelvemonth 2055, erstwhile humanity has established a tiny assemblage connected the moon. A mysterious blue-hued mineral has landed connected Earth’s earthy satellite, and it’s causing unusual reactions — people’s emotions are comically off-centered, and powerfulness and lighting look unpredictable. Even a tiny robot — DG-33, benignant of cutesy rotation connected a trash compactor — has developed immoderate quirks, namely a sassy Southern accent.

And yet “Lunar Light” has an underlying mission. The project, which mixes successful existent science, is spearheaded by Danielle Roosa, an actor-writer turned abstraction advocate. Roosa’s involvement successful the cosmos is successful her blood, arsenic she is the granddaughter of precocious Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa. And 1 of her aboriginal gigs was interning astatine NASA’s Washington, D.C., offices, wherever she worked successful the quality and multimedia room.

“I realized a batch of my [college] classmates had nary thought what NASA was adjacent doing,” says Roosa, 32. “One idiosyncratic said, ‘I thought NASA was retired of business.’ The effect was truly planted there.”

Or awakened, rather.

“There’s ever this conversation, ‘Why abstraction exploration?’” Roosa says. “I deliberation that knowing our spot successful the star strategy helps america support our location better. It helps america recognize what could happen, possibly antithetic ways of surviving life, going retired determination and uncovering antithetic habits. All of those are for a amended Earth. Even erstwhile my gramps went to the moon, radical were like, ‘Why are we doing this?’ I wasn’t there, but radical besides accidental that was the past clip America was genuinely united. ‘Yes, we person to bash this. We’re going to onshore connected the moon.’ I bash deliberation that abstraction unites people.”

“Lunar Light” is the archetypal large task from Roosa’s steadfast Back to Space. She has expansive ambitions — opening a large-scale immersive installation to location “Lunar Light” and different programs, and taking the acquisition connected the roadworthy to assorted museums. She honed her concern acumen aft a accidental gathering connected an airplane with Jim Keyes, a erstwhile 7-Eleven and Blockbuster executive, who became a mentor and investor.

The Santa Monica installation is “Lunar Light’s” 2nd pop-up, having had a tally successful Dallas successful 2024. She considers it a impervious of concept, the archetypal measurement successful her eventual extremity of gathering a “10,000-square-foot acquisition that’s similar the Disneyland of abstraction exploration.” Investors were funny but encouraged her to, astatine slightest astatine first, downsize her vision.

“OK, fine,” Roosa says, recalling those conversations. “So we built it retired of shipping containers.”

A impermanent successful a ballcap interacts with a screen.

The Santa Monica experience, a small longer than an hour, is lone successful VR for a fraction of that period. After a abbreviated jaunt connected the satellite and a tiny gamelike enactment successful which we excavation for virtual minerals, we find ourselves successful a laboratory wherever we’ll play with assorted crystals. There’s a Tesla coil, and we volition trial retired assorted electrical vigor reactions. The mood, however, isn’t that of a classroom, arsenic the histrion manning the laboratory plays the country for laughs — each that electrical vigor is wreaking havoc connected her mind.

Roosa, whose begetter was a subject pilot, moved often passim her childhood, and she says she escaped via improv shows similar “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” That informed “Lunar Light‘s” lighthearted vibe, and aft experiencing assorted actor-driven immersive theatre shows, specified arsenic 1 inspired by Netflix bid “Bridgerton,” she knew she didn’t privation her abstraction exploration acquisition to trust solely connected technology.

“I deliberation human-to-human interaction is the lone happening that’s going to prevention america successful the world,” Roosa says. “Obviously I similar VR, but I deliberation the quality transportation is what makes the experience.”

"The Lunar Light Discovery"

“Lunar Light” attempts to usage VR to facilitate connection. While successful the headsets, we tin spot our chap participants. At times, we‘re asked to high-five them.

“Let’s accidental there’s 3 antithetic groups,” Roosa says, describing however strangers mightiness beryllium brought unneurotic for the experience. “They’re each timid. ‘I don’t cognize you.’ You enactment the VR headset on, and each of a abrupt they’re high-fiving each different and jumping up and down. It’s astir similar an equalizer. By the extremity of it, they consciousness similar 1 large group.”

Guests enactment retired a ligament puzzle.

Ultimately, “Lunar Light” builds to a mini flight country puzzle. But don’t expect thing excessively difficult. Those lightly acquainted with flight country challenges should beryllium capable to implicit it without excessively overmuch of a fuss. Roosa didn’t privation participants to get stuck, arsenic her eventual extremity is creating excitement astir abstraction by demystifying it.

Roosa says that galore abstraction experiences are “very serious.” She past concisely adopts an exaggerated, profoundly antheral voice. “It is, ‘We are men of science.’ And I’ve ever noticed, determination is country for immoderate fun. There is country for immoderate comedy. I privation radical to consciousness a portion of the abstraction conversation.”