Birch House exists to create, develop, and produce new Immersive work. We are dedicated to moving the medium forward by creating original experiences and facilitating the work of other Immersive artists through workshops, residency, and consultations.
Everything we build is a collaboration with our artists and audience that aims to put artists at the center of the process and audience members at the center of the experience. As one reviewer wrote, “Immersive experiences…are an important reminder and physicalization of our free will in following and participating in the stories around us.”
By day, Lauren facilitates donor experiences in her role in Donor Relations at The Rotary Foundation. Lauren has a certificate in Principles and Techniques of Fundraising from The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. By night Lauren creates much kookier and spookier experiences for audience members at Birch House as a Co-Founder, Playwright, and Director. She has a BFA in Theatre Arts from The Theatre School at DePaul University.
By day, Janie serves as the Production Coordinator at The Theatre School at DePaul University. By night, Janie designs old maps, old newspapers, and old stories as Co-Founder, Playwright, Designer, and self-titled archivist at Birch House. They hold a BFA in Playwriting from The The Theatre School at DePaul University.
By day, Sarah puts her Master's Degree in Human Resources to work with an international design and furnishings company. By night, Sarah leads Birch House Immersive where she serves as the organization’s Producer. She also holds a BFA in Theatre Management from The Theatre School at DePaul University.eatre School at DePaul University.
By day, Dean teaches and is Associate Dean of The Theatre School at DePaul University. By night he is a writer, performer, designer, technician, and theorist who fills his basement (and garage) with Birch House props.
By day, Lauren facilitates member experiences in her role in Programs for Young Leaders at Rotary International. By night Lauren creates much kookier and spookier experiences for audience members at Birch House as a Co-Founder, Playwright, and Director. She has a BFA in Theatre Arts from The Theatre School at DePaul University and a certificate in Principles and Techniques of Fundraising from The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
By day, Janie serves as the Executive Asst. to the Dean at The Theatre School at DePaul University. By night, Janie designs old maps, old newspapers, and old stories as Co-Founder, Playwright, Designer, and self-titled archivist at Birch House. They hold a BFA in Playwriting from TTS.
By day, Sarah puts her Master's Degree in Human Resources to work with an international design and furnishings company. By night, Sarah leads Birch House Immersive where she serves as the organization’s Producer. She also holds a BFA in Theatre Management from The Theatre School at DePaul University.
By day, Dean teaches and is Associate Dean of The Theatre School at DePaul University. By night he is a writer, performer, designer, technician, and theorist who fills his basement (and garage) with Birch House props.
The Birch House team first met in a decrepit, decaying old elementary school that was, at the time, the home of The Theatre School at DePaul University. Their first collaboration was a pop-up mystery called The Missing, created (with Sarah as Producer) for the 2016 Chicago Fringe Festival which was later, in the early days of the pandemic, re-created as a free online puzzle experience.
In the darkness of December 2017, the team started their new project with the question, “Who would go to a bar alone on Valentine’s Day?” They answered that question with the characters for their first celebration of the martyrdom of the saint, Lonely Hearts, an evening of intimate moments for one and for two.
In November of 2018 Birch House “swung for the fences,” filling the entire Berger Mansion with fog to produce the large-scale immersive project, Cursed: an American Tragedy. Audiences exploring the sixteen curated spaces in the house encountered the interwoven stories of three generations of a family and their war-time experiences.
After Cursed, Janie and Lauren began searching for the next impossible immersive challenge to explore. The most difficult thing they could think of was an immersive musical, which came to fruition in The Ode at Pint’s End at the end of 2019, right before the lights went out…
During the pandemic, Birch House still ran strong, completing The Missing: Online - an adaptation of the original play, Lonely Hearts 4: In Quarantine, and, Lonely Hearts 5: Special Delivery by mail.
The Lonely Hearts tradition continued with the fifth and sixth installments: LH: The Game and LH: The Haunting. Birch House continues to explore more in-person, musical experiences with Eden Creek - a new immersive musical coming Fall of 2024.
