An original virtual reality musical is coming to St. Louis

Non-Player Character

During writer and performer Brendan Bradley’s musical Non-Player Character (NPC), audience members are sucked into a metaphorical broken heart, attacked by a smoke monster, and plunged into an endless black void. There’s no real danger, though: All the action takes place in an immersive virtual reality (VR) space. As one of the first performances of its kind, NPC merges VR technology with interactive theater, allowing audience members to momentarily assume the role of actors. 

“I’m making you the star of the show, and nothing can go wrong,” Bradley says. “I’m going to let whatever you say and do be the show.”

On March 17 at 8 p.m., St. Louisans can spawn into NPC’s digital landscapes at MX Movies (618 Washington). For Bradley, a main priority is making the performance accessible to the community and to aspiring artists. A $10 ticket purchase gives guests access to an equivalent voucher at the bar and concessions station, making the show itself essentially free. 

The musical opens on a projected “Start Menu” screen. Bradley plays the title role—a “non-player” video game character who, after witnessing the death of the game’s hero, must navigate the unfamiliar terrain of the five stages of grief. Four audience members who opt to be “participants” join Bradley onstage with their own VR headsets, becoming characters in the 3D realm. The seated “spectators” view the show through a screen behind the participants, playing along via a mobile web app. Viewers can even join online as “virtual attendees” in the VR world or watch a livestream of the performance. 

An “NPC” audience member participates via an app. Courtesy of Brendan Bradley.

Regardless of how guests choose to experience NPC, the in-person audience always has a say in the storyline. That means no two performances will ever be identical. 

“We’re all kind of living and breathing off of each other to collaboratively make this particular show this particular night—so that as far as the audience is concerned, they really have created the story as much as possible,” Bradley says. 

While much of the show is improvised to follow the audience’s choices, some dialogue, scene changes, and musical numbers are scripted. All of NPC’s original songs were co-written by music producer Maurice Soque Jr., and creative technologist Michael Morran joined the project to offer guidance on the digital side. Their work doesn’t just happen behind the scenes, though—during in-person performances, Soque provides a backing track on the piano, electric guitar, and saxophone. Meanwhile, audiences can watch as Morran crafts live strings of code to account for NPC’s ever-changing storyline.

Bradley views the current VR performance scene as something akin to the early days of YouTube: a highly experimental, tight-knit community on the precipice of all sorts of discoveries. For now, he’s using NPC as a way to explore the boundaries of the form and connect on a deeper level with audiences.

“Through the intimacy of VR, the people on stage slowly dissociate and forget that they’re in a theater in front of a bunch of people, so there’s no stage fright; there’s no self awareness or awkwardness,” Bradley says. “What’s really beautiful is that last moment when we come out of VR, and I let them all acknowledge each other, and…it’s theater. It’s that human moment, where we were all in the room witnessing this one thing that will never happen again.”