'The Moonshine Affair' is a chance to travel into the past on the spaceship 'Orbit Room'

Carol Kugler, The Herald-Times
·3 min read
Sisters, from left, Kenzie Colvin, Holly Colvin and Kate Colvin have started Drima, an event planning business.
Sisters, from left, Kenzie Colvin, Holly Colvin and Kate Colvin have started Drima, an event planning business.

What if there was a way to travel back in time with a small group of people to the year 1922? Would you want to go? Would you want to come back to 2022? Could you visit the past without causing any changes, so you'd be able to travel back to present-day Bloomington?

Just such an adventure will be taking off at The Orbit Room on March 26 as the first performance of Drima, an immersive event planning business.

"The Moonshine Affair" is an interactive, story-based production that's the brainchild of three sisters — Holly, Kate and Kenzie Colvin, all graduates of Indiana University who've created their own business.

More theater news: Bloomington theater groups BPP, Cardinal Stage, Pigasus Institute form new company

Up to 34 participants will be transported back in time to 1922 on the space ship known as The Orbit Room. Each person will be able to decide how far into the performance portal they descend, with some enjoying special hotdogs and live jazz music while others contribute to the experience and help guide The Orbit Room safely back to 2022. What consequences they face in the past will determine how difficult the return trip will be.

Participants are encouraged to dress in 1920s attire (there are some suggestions on the drima website) and have an adventurous attitude. When the ship lands, it will be disguised as a Prohibition-era speakeasy, complete with bootlegged liquor and red-hot jazz. An interactive console for the ship will add an escape room aspect to the evening's adventure.

Kate Colvin, foreground, works on solving a puzzle during an escape room event.
Kate Colvin, foreground, works on solving a puzzle during an escape room event.

Kate Colvin discovered a vibrant, immersive scene while living in Los Angeles that she hopes she and her sisters can bring to Bloomington.

"The move toward immersive entertainment has been going on for years and will continue," she said.

While the appetite for immersive experiences began before COVID-19, the isolation many people have dealt with for the past two years has left them longing for connection. The sisters plan a personal experience for everyone who decides to take a ride on "The Orbit Room" vessel.

"There isn't a huge immersive scene in Bloomington, but there could be," Kate Colvin said recently, drinking a smoothie at another Bloomington restaurant the sisters are considering for a future event.

In addition to the sisters' talents, various former and current students at Indiana University will be part of "The Moonshine Affair" cast.

Catherine Barker, a junior pursuing a BFA in musical theater, and Devin May, who graduated in 2018 from IU with a bachelor's degree in theater and drama, will be on the ship heading to 1922.

Musicians from IU include Jin Sook Kwak, a graduate jazz/classical pianist at the Jacobs School of Music, and Ben Lopilato, a freshman studying jazz.

Trip is sold out

All the $39 tickets for the Orbit Room spaceship's flight have been sold, according to the group's website. The trip is set for 7:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday at the Orbit Room, 107 N. College Ave., Suite 001. The event will include live jazz and singing, and specialty hot dogs and cocktails will be available for purchase.

Watch for the new group's next event at drimaevents.com.

Contact Carol Kugler at ckugler@heraldt.com, 812-331-4359 or @ckugler on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Immersive trip on 'The Orbit Room' takes visitors to 1922 speakeasy