{"id":25521,"date":"2020-03-23T09:00:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-23T16:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/?p=25521"},"modified":"2020-03-23T09:22:25","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T16:22:25","slug":"3sth3r-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/3sth3r-review\/","title":{"rendered":"3STH3R – BL4KM4SS Reimagines Purim for their H0L1D4Y Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m walking in the cool night air in Long Beach, California, covered in blood. As I walk to my car, I attract the gazes of various passersby. Do they know that I\u2019ve just escaped with my life? And yet, I\u2019m not shaken, I\u2019m not panicked, I\u2019m not calling 9-1-1. Instead, I feel that all is well in my world. 3sth3r<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just an hour earlier, I had driven along a commercial street in Long Beach, ready to participate in BL4KM4SS<\/a>\u2019 Purim holiday show, 3STH3R<\/em>. BL4KM4SS is a horror-themed immersive theater group whose intense productions are known for evoking dread and fear, often through simulated violence. For 2020, BL4KM4SS is producing monthly shows that coincide with various holidays. The March show commemorates Purim, a Jewish holiday with which I was unfamiliar. A side perquisite of the Purim show is that it compelled me to read up on Purim, thereby learning something new in anticipation of the show.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With my newly-acquired (but admittedly minimal) knowledge of Purim, I thought the show might focus on the celebratory aspects of the Purim holiday, which is observed by drinking lots of wine and sharing gifts of food. But this is BL4KM4SS, where I know to anticipate something other <\/em>than the expected. In this regard, BL4KM4SS certainly met expectations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"3STH3R<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s Saturday night and as I pull up to the Bamboo Lounge, I see bar patrons milling about on the sidewalk and near the doorway. I have previously received instructions from BL4KM4SS to text when I\u2019ve arrived and to declare that I am \u201cready to party,\u201d and I know that I\u2019ll be meeting with four women. I\u2019m ready for my \u201cgirls\u2019 night out,\u201d BL4KM4SS-style.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I approach four young women who are loitering on a corner under a street light. I\u2019m immediately stricken by their attire; two of the four women are wearing skimpy tank tops, short shorts and flip flops on this chilly evening. A third women is clad in head-to-toe black, with tattoos and \u201cbiker chick\u201d leather jewelry. This women is tall and imposing, standing close to six feet tall. She\u2019s mostly quiet. And then, there\u2019s Esther (Emily A. Roth).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Esther is short and solid, with a mane of curly dark hair accented with a tiara, piercing eyes set under strong brows, and attitude to spare. She\u2019s dressed for a night on the town, with necklaces and, if my recollection serves me, a feather boa. As I approach the women, Esther eyes me with disdain, commanding me to bow to her. I do my best approximation of a curtsey, and Esther roars, \u201cOn your knees!\u201d Despite being old enough to be Esther\u2019s mother, I obey her directive and bow down, one knee on the pavement. As I rise, she extends a milky, silky pale arm and presents her ring, which I understand that I am to kiss. I do so, only later allowing thoughts of COVID-19 to invade my consciousness. Out of one of the women\u2019s bags, a hideous turquoise polyester flapper-style dress is produced, and I am directed to don it over my clothes. One faux-turquoise beaded necklace and a fabric lei later, I\u2019m properly dressed and \u201cready to party.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As we move toward the Bamboo Lounge, the three younger women – Esther, Sarah (Amanda Picard) and Leah (Lauren Rose Sanders) – chatter amongst themselves. Vashti, Esther\u2019s bodyguard (Reyna \u201cChainsaw Queen\u201d Velarde), keeps order and ensures that Esther always leads the pack. I follow along in their wake. The Bamboo Lounge is what I\u2019d describe as a tiki bar, replete with tropical touches and the lingering odor of spilled beer on wooden floors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The three young women effectively create a bona fide \u201cmean girls\u201d atmosphere, one in which I feel both a part of and also excluded from. There are many inside jokes and innuendos exchanged between the girls. This dual feeling of inclusion and exclusion has me wondering whether this is part of the show\u2019s narrative or whether in fact the girls are subtly dissing me though our interactions. Regardless, the feeling of being included while still remaining on the fringes is very real.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once in the bar, we sit down, and Esther declares that she\u2019s a real <\/em>princess. Esther states that her father, Mordecai, learned of a plot to murder all the Jews, and was forced to massacre a group of insurgents who intended to carry out this genocide. As Esther holds court, a group of others \u2013 primarily men \u2013 gather around us, listening in. There is palpable tension between Esther and a thin, sinewy blond man, whom I later would come to know as Jacob (Tristan Sinns). Other members of Jacob\u2019s crew include Reuben, Jacob\u2019s son (Jitaro Roybal); and Joseph (Kent Mclean), who seems to be acting in a bodyguard capacity. Jacob openly challenges many of the boastful statements made by Esther, stating that her account is not accurate. Esther stands her ground, but as tempers flare, Esther decrees that we are to leave the bar. Leah is upset about our sudden departure, since she thinks her prospects of getting laid are looking up and she wants to stay. Nonetheless, Vashti enforces Esther\u2019s orders, and we leave the bar and pile into a nondescript sedan for the ride to our next location.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"3STH3R<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Having spent time with BL4KM4SS on several previous occasions, I\u2018m less anxious being driven to an unknown location in the company of four women than before. Maybe it\u2019s the absence of a blindfold. In any event, the ride is punctuated by bickering among the women, all of which feels very genuine. Leah wants assurance that there will be booze at the next stop. Esther promises her that there will be, and then reneges. Sarah seems game for anything that might happen. As Leah laments the absence of male attention, I lamely offer that the night is meant for \u201cgirl power.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We arrive at the house, a location I\u2019ve visited before with BL4KM4SS. We enter a dingy, dark room swathed in black plastic tarps. I\u2019ve been here before, but never has the room been so completely covered in plastic. The words bloodbath <\/em>and drainage <\/em>lodge themselves into my brain. The minimal d\u00e9cor consists of four chairs, placed at the 12, 3, 6 and 9 positions of a clock, and inexplicably, a fox mask mounted on one of the black tarp-covered walls. Esther takes 12, Sarah sits at 3, I\u2019m at 6 facing the others, and Leah sits in the 9 position. My back is to the entry through which we came. This is discomforting as I cannot see what might approach me from behind. This detail \u2013 the mere placement of my chair \u2013 is extremely effective in inducing a sense of dread and a recognition of my lack of control over the situation. I scoot my chair and try to assume a 4 o\u2019clock position, only to be reprimanded by Vashti, repositioned back to 6 pm, and verbally chastised by Esther.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Esther begins pontificating again, and suddenly, Vashti brandishes a handgun and reveals that she had been the king\u2019s first wife. Vashti recalls that one drunken evening, the king demanded she display her beauty by parading nude save her crown before him and his friends. When she refused, Vashti was exiled from the kingdom, and watched from afar as Esther became the king\u2019s second wife, enjoying a privileged and regal lifestyle that was originally hers. Vashti\u2019s anger displays a long-simmering disgust toward Esther and her usurpation of Vashti\u2019s rightful place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Suddenly, we have visitors. Still brandishing her gun, Vashti ushers in Jacob and his son, Reuben. Reuben wordlessly handcuffs Leah and Sarah to their chairs. He then opens a case of tools and extracts an item that appears to be a sling blade. He sharpens the blade as Jacob confronts Esther. In this moment, there is a clear tonal shift, with mere anger and bitterness yielding to a more sinister and dangerous energy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back at the bar, Esther claimed that the insurgents had to be eliminated as they were plotting to kill the king, but Jacob has a decidedly different take. In a loud voice filled with rage and bitterness, he tells Esther that the men who were killed were his family members \u2013 and that they were unarmed and had surrendered to the king, but were murdered nonetheless as they pleaded for mercy. In a compelling, mostly monologue performance, Jacob recounts being at the massacre and being buried under the bodies and body parts of ten of his family members. He escaped execution because he was hidden underneath the pile of his fallen relatives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I had encountered actor Tristan Sinns in other BL4KM4SS productions and found him to be a threatening presence. He owned this scene. Sinns is 165 pounds of pure muscle and rage. As he spits accusations and insults at Esther, the veins in his head and neck bulge, and he moves about the room with a threatening energy that is akin to a coiled cobra, ready to strike.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cOne!\u201d Jacob continues his vitriolic, rage-filled rant, and his henchman inflicts a small cut on Sarah\u2019s thigh. \u201c<\/em>Two!\u201d The blade slices Leah\u2019s ankle. \u201cThree!\u201d Sarah takes another slice to her arm. As Jacob barks out his numerical orders, Esther, Sarah and Leah receive additional injuries, intensifying as the count rises. I realize that these assaults represent each of the ten family members that Jacob lost in the massacre. With each new bloody swipe, Reuben splatters me with the blood of the victims. He is methodical and completely devoid of emotion, carrying out Jacob\u2019s bidding from behind a thick veil of hair that completely obscures his face.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Esther is hysterical, pleading with Jacob for her life. Jacob\u2019s rage is unabated, and his narrative includes the fact that there was an infant child who also survived the massacre because the child was also lying beneath the pile of murdered men. At this point both Leah and Sarah have lost so much blood that they are slumped over, motionless, in their chairs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"3STH3R<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before he reaches “Ten,\u201d Jacob asks Esther if she knows the identity of the surviving infant child. She does not, but Jacob gazes upon me and says, \u201cIt\u2019s you. You are the baby.\u201d This is an unexpected twist that explains why I have been spared the cuts and gashes inflicted by Reuben upon Esther, Leah and Sarah. As Jacob makes this big reveal, his face \u2013 previously a taut, angry bundle of muscle and fascia \u2013 softens. His eyes warm and he offers me a choice. He will leave me with Esther and depart, or he will take me with him. All of the coiled tension and anger that had carried this scene for the last half hour instantly dissipates. It\u2019s as if Jacob\u2019s rage had been liquid, carried in a plastic bag that burst like a water balloon. My choice is easy \u2013 I will join Jacob. I thank him for finding and saving me, and he hugs me warmly. Though I\u2019d just watched Jacob spin a web of violent anger over the last 30 minutes, I feel safe in his embrace, and as though I have been rescued in the nick of time. Vashti escorts me out of the room and back into the car. Covered in the blood of others, I feel alive and loved.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3STH3R<\/em>, directed by Alex C. Cohen, was one of the best BL4KM4SS productions yet, despite the lower degree of audience participation and agency than some others, like Prelude<\/em><\/a> and Clausen: Inauguration<\/em><\/a>. All of the actors were strong, though the characters of Sarah and Leah seemed somewhat inconsequential to the narrative. Esther, played by Emily A. Roth, did a fine job of presenting herself as haughty and entitled until she was faced with the very real threat presented by Jacob. Vashti\u2019s reveal as the former queen was an unexpected twist that left me wanting to hear more of her story. But the show belongs<\/em> to Tristan Sinns. With his sinewy physique and his Mohawk, Sinns is readily believable as a threat and danger. I had never seen Sinns perform in any scene that required much speech from him, but he was articulate and delivered his countdown monologue with all of the decades of Jacob\u2019s rage boiling just below the surface, ready to explode. The moment when he revealed that I was the child who survived and offered to spare me was truly magical, as Sinns transformed from a wild, nearly deranged and violent man into one with a heart and soul.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

BL4KM4SS has one of the most active production schedules of 2020, with at least one new show mounting each month. BL4KM4SS shows are not for the faint of heart and require a video and paper waiver from audience members. This show had very little audience agency and very little physicality. But the narrative and the superb acting made it all very real, and very frightening. The \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d professionals responsible for creating the foreboding atmosphere include Paul Stephen Edwards (Lighting\/Art Direction), Amori Stewart (Stage Manager) and Nathan Brewer (Production Assistant). Though 3STH3R <\/em>might not have adhered strictly to the actual Book of Esther<\/em>, its retelling, seen through BL4KM4SS\u2019 blood-coated lenses, was well worth the trip to Long Beach.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"3STH3R<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3STH3R<\/em> has concluded its run. For more information on BL4KM4SS\u2019 H0L1D4Y shows and the different pricing options, follow them on Instagram<\/a>. Check out our Event Guide<\/a> for more horror entertainment throughout the year.<\/p>\n

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MORE ABOUT HAUNTING<\/span><\/h1><\/div>
[vc_empty_space height=”42px”][vc_column_text]Haunting is a resource for immersive theater and horror fans in Los Angeles and across the world, promoting art and community. Want to help us reach even more people, and get some cool perks and experiences? For as little as $1 a month, you can join our Patreon<\/a> and help us keep bringing content to life.<\/p>\n

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If you like the above article and want to find more like it, make sure to join our community. If Facebook is your favorite, follow us there<\/a> and become a part of our groups for Immersive Horror fans<\/a> and\/or Immersive creators<\/a>. We\u2019re active on Instagram, posting evocative imagery and informative stories to promote our reviews and recollections; follow us there<\/a>. You can even find us on twitter; click here to follow<\/a>. For those who want to explore deeper, we have a vibrant Slack community<\/a> with new event alerts and immediate ticket sale announcements; click here to join<\/a>. And subscribe to our event calendar<\/a> to get emails for all or specific events (look for the link right under the calendar<\/a>)! Finally, we have a newsletter that comes out once a week; click here to sign up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R 3STH3R\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m walking in the cool night air in Long Beach, California, covered in blood. As I walk to my car, I attract the gazes of various passersby. Do they know that I\u2019ve just escaped with my life? And yet, I\u2019m not shaken, I\u2019m not panicked, I\u2019m not calling 9-1-1. Instead, I feel that all is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":25522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[16790,11842,81,80],"tags":[25117,16643,25118,21609,10386,25119,96,3586],"yst_prominent_words":[25115,25114,25113,25112,25116,25102,15471,25100,1891,24878,25103,25106,25101,25104,25107,17431,1663,25105,23243,1480],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.haunting.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/cover.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p89hUA-6DD","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25521"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25521"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.haunting.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=25521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}