Weddings are supposed to be joyous affairs. But what if you went to a wedding where the bride and groom didn’t want to get married? What if they were also dead?

This isn’t the ominous opening line of a horror movie trailer — it’s the premise of “Ghosts of USC: The Wedding,” a fully immersive theater experience brought to life by the students of THTR 499 in partnership with the Company of Angels. The experience is far from a typical night at the theater.

Audience members were welcomed by ushers dressed in brown and black capes and hoods, and each guest was given their own velvet cape. The immersive element begins as groups were assigned, and an enthusiastic host led attendees into the candle-lit basement of the newly refurbished Wolf Drama Center. 

As the evening unfolded, the line between audience and performer began to blur. Set in Los Angeles in the late 1800s, audience members found themselves attending the wedding of two young adults — who just so happened to be dead. 

The guests witnessed their resurrection and were quickly drawn into a dilemma: The revived couple had no desire to marry. After hearing the perspectives of the family members — split among the immersive groups where the performers heavily interacted with the audience — guests were left to make a decision. 

In an unexpected twist, with a gold coin handed to them by an usher at the start, each audience member cast a vote to decide whether the wedding should go on or be called off. This interactive component underscores the heart of immersive theater, with the cast preparing for two entirely different endings.

Navya Sharma, a freshman majoring in dramatic arts, who portrayed the bride, said immersive theater was a completely new experience for her. 

“Immersive was something I’d never done before. I saw the class description, and I was totally amused by what goes on in here,” Sharma said.

Sharma added that her passion for Disney inspired her interest in immersive performances. 

“I’ve always loved … when you go to those theme parks and see … how they create that magical sense that makes you want to be a part of that world. That’s something that really drew me to try immersive [theater],” Sharma said.

Sharma also reflected on the intensity and demanding nature of this type of theater.

“A lot of times, we would have audience members — either from the Company of Angels or just random people from USC — come in and we had to interact with them. I felt like that made the stakes to be in character even higher … you need to know your character really, really, really well,” Sharma said. 

Keanu Gonzales, a senior majoring in theatre, who portrayed the groom, said he felt an instant connection to his role. 

“He’s kind of a soul trying to find his own way, despite what the expectation is of him, and it’s something that really resonated with me. So I just kind of took it and ran with it, and it translated really well into the play,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales said he was deeply appreciative of the freedom afforded by the immersive theater format. 

“We actually mostly created our own characters and wrote most of our lines. It was actually super easy to memorize because I wrote them, and we were allowed to mess around with them and change them as the show happened. That made it all feel way more personal,” Gonzales said. 

This connection ran deep into the core of the show, as Gonzales explained that one of the most challenging scenes to perform took place in one of the alternate endings. 

“There’s a moment between Theodore, my character, and my mother, where we have a heart-to-heart, even though we’re both kind of strong-willed, protective people. And it’s just hard because sometimes it just feels a little too real,” Gonzales said.

A majority of the production’s authenticity comes from how each actor added layers of their own personality to the narrative through backstories and subplots. Djima Togbe, a junior majoring in dramatic arts, who played the cousin of the groom, crafted a twist for her character: a secret, unrequited love for the groom that was only revealed at the end of the story. 

“This was my first time [doing immersive theater]” Togbe said. “English isn’t my first language…. And I created a nice monologue and everybody was like, oh my God, how I kind of feel connected to that character, because I feel like it happens to everyone to love someone who doesn’t maybe love you..”

The last scene was the most difficult for Togbe to perform. 

“It was like saying goodbye all over again,” Togbe said. “My character spent years hiding this secret … then she sees him awake, only to lose him again.”

At its core, “Ghosts of USC” pays homage to what immersive theater is all about. Collaboration, experimentation and creative freedom are at the heart of this production — and it is clearly visible through the craft of the actors and crew.

And if you’re wondering which building the cast would haunt if given the chance? Answers ranged from the Roski School of Art and Design to the Marshall School of Business. 

“They have it too good there,” Gonzales said.