arts&life

section

An
Egyptian
E
Adventure

Right here in West

Bloomfi eld, thanks

to JET’s new escape

room.

SUZANNE CHESSLER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ver dream of traveling to
King Tut’s Tomb and solv-
ing the riddle of Anubis?
Ever wanted to feel part of a
collaborative team like the ones
putting together theatrical pro-
ductions? Ever wanted to sense
an expedition while heading
toward a satisfying finale?
The Jewish Ensemble Theatre
Company (JET) invites you to
do all that in a newly developed
customized escape room, part of
a trend that invites small groups
of people to enter an enclosed
space, decode clues one by one
and actually move into a dramat-
ic conclusion based on a unifying
theme.
JET partnered with Enigma
D Escapes to create a new
JET experience, entitled “The
Pyramid Adventure,” which will
bring in Jewish components to
the puzzles even though the situ-
ation has been set in an ancient
Egyptian chamber. The idea is
to find the right conclusion in a
certain time frame that lets par-
ticipants escape the room.
While the JET stage is dark
in between professional pro-
ductions, an escape room has
been set up in the theater lobby
through March 25 as a fundrais-
ing adventure opportunity. In
groups of 10, participants 12 and
up can have their own chance, as
a team, to function for an hour in
the world of pretend — hopefully
coming up with what the escape
room producer has plotted.
Linda Ramsay-Detherage,
JET development director,
planned out the marketing idea
and assumed all the produc-
tion costs. She wants to offer
this escape room opportunity
throughout the area after it has
been introduced at JET.
“I saw this thriving entertain-
ment industry and thought I
could do it as well,” says Ramsay-
Detherage, a playwright whose
script Sugarhill was produced by

The JET-designed “set” of “The Pyramid Adventure”

46

February 22 • 2018

jn