Written and photographed by Anna Robertson.
On February 16, the Themed Entertainment Association Club at SCAD (TEA@SCAD) will open it’s second project in the auditorium of Arnold Hall, “The Summit: Escape from Ikal Mino.” It is totally immersive storytelling in a three-dimensional space. Groups will walk through the maze of the mountain, Cima de Sombras, discovering dark secrets behind the legendary mountain.
Alexander Krikes, a production design senior, is the creative director of “The Summit” and the President of TEA@SCAD. Krikes hopes that TEA@SCAD will continue to build projects like “The Summit” once he is gone. He hopes that every year the club can collaborate with other students to create thematic entertainment like this. “Hands on experience tends to be the first things that (companies) tend to want from a student,” Krikes said.
Over 50 other students from more than half a dozen majors at SCAD have come together to create this massive scale project. Writing students wrote what Krikes said is the most important part of “The Summit,” its script. “Thematic entertainment is like film,” Krikes explained, “if you don’t have a story, you don’t have anything.”
Concept designers and graphic artists later met to construct the designs of the mountain’s maze, and production designers and sound designers fabricated the concept art into what feels like a real life abandoned mine. It has taken a year for “The Summit” to go from scripts and concept art to the maze that will loom menacingly over those who are brave enough to enter.
There are interactive puzzles that groups can solve in order to escape the mountain, but “The Summit” is more of an immersive story than an escape room. Some mild thematic events and a few loud noises will occur, but it is not meant to be scary. Necessary tests have been taken to guarantee everyone’s safety.
“The Summit” is free and open to the public. It will tomorrow, Feb. 16 in the Arnold Hall Auditorium and remain open for two weekends. Tickets can be purchased here.
