Last April, a year and a half of preparation paid off when the Texas Immersive Institute Class of 2024 opened its “Elysian Heights” exhibit to the public. Described as a student-led immersive experience combining live theatre, escape room puzzles and augmented reality technology, “Elysian Heights” sold out 12 of its 13 shows. 

On June 14, “Elysian Heights” was announced as one of 79 projects longlisted for the 2024 Yugo BAFTA Student Awards, an international event celebrating outstanding work across animation, documentary, live action, games and immersive categories. The BAFTA Student Awards received over 800 submissions from 37 countries. 

“It just seems almost magical to me,” said Ethan Luong, an “Elysian Heights” assistant director. “Our project from UT, just from the state of Texas, is now longlisted on an international scale.”

Through a futuristic retelling of The Wizard of Oz, “Elysian Heights” explores the concept of Partnerism, a socio-economic model that emphasizes collaboration and caregiving, said Erin Reilly, the producer and founding director of the Texas Immersive Institute. Audience members play visitors to a futuristic city, hosted by the AI ruler O.S., and are introduced to Ella, a hacker who wants to release her friends from O.S.’s control. Players then visit three Wizard of Oz-inspired characters, each exploring a different Partneristic theme: Maisey highlights environmental issues; Ironclad focuses on the workforce, and Leon for arts and culture.

“In the finale, Ella realizes that she can’t destroy (O.S.) — the only way that things are going to be fixed is if she works with him,” said Amber Huchton, “Elysian Heights”’s creative director. “We wanted to make sure that there’s no ‘You destroyed him and then you win’ (narrative) … because the whole point of Partnerism is that it’s not about overpowering another person.”

At the end of the game, Huchton said O.S. and Ella ask the audience to help them build a better society. The players upload the values they learned throughout the exhibit, and those values appear around the room. 

“We really wanted the audience (to have) some kind of agency in deciding the ending and figuring out what they learned,” Huchton said.

Reilly said that a cohort of 30 students from ten majors across four colleges developed the exhibit.

“Out of all of the projects I’ve done, ‘Elysian Heights’ had the most diverse group of people I’ve ever worked with,” Luong said. “We had programmers, artists and me and my other assistant director. We had UI people who did the interface (and UX people) who (did) the games. We had people who figured out lighting and audio and, ultimately, how to combine all these things together.”

Reilly said she loved getting to know her students and watching them grow.

“The best part for me is when they have that ‘Aha!’ moment (during) the first show when we go live,” Reilly said. “They realize all of their hard work has paid off, and they see the audience be mesmerized by (their) creative works.” 

Huchton said it felt wonderful to see audiences enjoying what the cohort created. 

“The only thing going through my mind was, ‘We made something. We did it,’” Huchton said. “It’s not just the stressful, multi-part, crazy thing that’s been in my head for the past couple of months. It’s actually a living, breathing thing and it works.”