Amber Nash as Vavianna Vardot. (Photo by Red Socks Photography)
Just in time for summer, this sexy show starts the second audience members park their car.
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Dad’s Garage ventures into uncharted waters for its latest stage spectacle, Murder on Vavianna Island, the comedy theater’s first foray into an immersive audience experience.
The new scripted show, running June 6 through June 28, stars Amber Nash as her sexy B-movie star character Vavianna Vardot. Though it’s scripted, the production still has a lot of unpredictable elements at play, including multiple possible endings to the story, according to Director Amanda Lee Williams.
This performance is a way for everyone to have a summer vacation without leaving town, Nash said. And audience members get to choose their own adventure regarding how involved they want to play along with the story.
“It’s tropical, hot and humid, and there’s a lot of sexy dancing,” she said. “It’s so great.”
Nash created the character of Vavianna Vardot in 2017 to host burlesque showcases at Dad’s Garage. Vardot is always sexy and fabulous, and she has been married 13 times. She considers all of those marriages to be successes.
Amber Nash, center, came up with the character of Vivianna in 2017 to host burlesque shows at Dad’s. Here, she is joined by dancers Vivian Vanguard, left, and Violette Coquette, right, both of Edmonton, Alberta. (Photo by Red Socks Photography)
“Vavianna thinks people should be able to marry and remarry anybody they want at any time,” Nash said. “Divorce is not a thing to her, to be honest; she considers it part of the life cycle of a relationship.”
Within the plot of this show, Vavianna’s ex, Remington Demetrious (George Faughnan), is getting married on the star’s private island — though not to her. Instead, Demetrious is marrying a social media influencer named Cressley (Dorothea DuMonde). But as tensions rise, not everyone makes it out alive on Vavianna Island.
From the moment attendees arrive in the parking lot, the show essentially begins — with performers even on the lawn and in the lobby, which has been transformed to a marina. There, a cruise ship crew checks you in and welcomes you to a wild wedding weekend on a tropical island upstairs on the main stage, filled with laughs, murder, dance, unscripted moments and burlesque numbers.
“I’m not just saying this to sell tickets or anything,” Williams said. “You could see this show at least three times and have a completely different experience, noticing new details. As a director, not only during the immersive part but even in the way I’m blocking the show, I have multiple things going on the stage at once. You can’t watch them all at the same time.”
Amber Nash as Vivianna. (Photo by Andy Batt)
The script, written by Megan Leahy, is very funny, Nash said.
“But the pre-show is not scripted,” Williams added. “Intermission is not scripted, but there are actors working during those times. There’s basically never a time where the world of the show is not happening once the audience enters our doors.”
The immersive elements — including multiple contingency plans — were designed by La Schaffer. Murder on Vavianna Island was heavily influenced by other immersive theater experiences, like the long-running Sleep No More in New York, which re-imagines Macbeth as an interactive, noirish murder-mystery in a hotel.
“I think why we love improv here is because we like for things to be different every time,” Nash said. “We get bored easily. The fun thing about this is that audience members can allow themselves to dive in as characters and have this experience, being game for whatever’s about to happen. Because it’s a wedding, you can choose to be there for the bride or the groom or just there for the party. You really will see a different show every time you come. The immersive elements will be different.”
The world of the show is a wonderful place to visit, even with murder afoot, Williams said.
“Part of what I think is so special about this show is that it is one of the most inclusive, loving spaces both on and off the stage,” she said. “The audience is going to feel so good. You get to leave this crazy world we’re all in, walk into a marina, and, for three full hours, you’re immersed in Vavianna’s world, where everybody’s body is beautiful, everything you say is OK and everybody is kind and loving and fun.”
Where & When
Murder on Vavian Island is at Dad’s Garage June 6 through June 28. Tickets start at $51 and include three alcoholic beverages.
569 Ezzard St.
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Benjamin Carr is an ArtsATL editor-at-large who has contributed to the publication since 2019 and is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, the Dramatists Guild, the Atlanta Press Club and the Horror Writers Association. His writing has been featured in podcasts for iHeartMedia, onstage as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and online in The Guardian. His debut novel, Impacted, was published by The Story Plant.
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