News

Find out what is happening at Cross Roads Escape Games! Here you will find the latest news: upcoming games, special events, prizes, and more!

Seance Playbill

The Séance Playbill

, , , , , , 1

The Séance
Written and Directed by Madison Rhoades 

Cast:

Ruby: Geovanna Flores
Ruby: Amy Melendrez
Ruby/ Puppeteer: Tara Virgil
Puppeteer: Brittani Prenger
Puppeteer: Stepy Kamei
Puppeteer: Desiree Nguyen
Ruth’s Voice and Likeness: Jessie Wise

Crew:

Director: Madison Rhoades
Asst. Director: Luke Rhoades
Technical Director: Luke Rhoades
Scenic Designer: Madison Rhoades
Lighting Designer: Ian Momii
Sound Designer: Dan Waldkirch
Lighting and Sound Technician: Ian Momii
Costume Designer: Lauren Orgill
Puppet Designers and Fabricators: Madison Rhoades, Zach Dahm, and Nathan Manahan
Special Effects: Christian Mutter
Prop Master: Lauren Orgill
Prop Illustrations: Alexa Harzan

Special thanks to Liz Croupe, Eva Recinos, Jason Sakal, Geoff Durham, Theresa Rhoades, and Bonnie Rhoades

Cast Biographies:

Geovanna Flores (RUBY): Geovanna Flores is a Los Angeles native and recent USC Thornton School of Music graduate.  A classically trained opera singer, Flores enjoys performing opera as well as musical theatre, theatrical and commercial acting, and performance poetry.  During her time at USC, Geovanna was seen with the USC Opera as a Nina in Ainadamar, played Lucy T. Slut in Avenue Q with the Musical Theatre Repatory of USC, and Consuelo in West Side Story in the historic first Kaufman School of Dance, Thornton School of Music and USC School of Dramatic Arts collaborative production.  Flores is a proud Latina, speaks fluent Spanish and incorporates her passion for social justice and Latinx culture into her poetry.  When not performing, auditioning, or in rehearsal, Flores teaches voice and piano in West Los Angeles.  www.GeovannaFlores.com

 

Amy Melendrez (RUBY):  Born and raised in L.A., Amy is a recent graduate of the University of Southern California and is excited to be jumping into the world of The Séance! Amy was most recently seen in Accidental Joy, a new musical workshop. While pursuing her B.A. in Theatre, she also attended the British American Drama Academy. She has appeared in various collegiate productions including Heathers, Mr. Burns: A Post Electric Play, Time and the Conways, The Penelopiad, and the staged reading of Hipster Sweatshop.

 

Tara Virgil (RUBY/ PUPPETEER): Tara Virgil is extremely excited to be a part of Cross Roads Escape Games newest addition: The Séance. She has had 7 years of theater acting experience and is thrilled to be trying something new. She has been in numerous productions over the years, including The Little Shop of Horrors as Mrs. Mushnik and Aladdin as Genie. Tara hopes to pursue acting as a future endeavor and will hopefully be attending CSULB in the spring for a degree in theater.

 

Brittani Prenger (PUPPETEER): Brittani has been performing all of her life. She is currently at Knott’s Berry Farm as a train robber and she just wrapped up her first year at Ghost Town Alive as the town’s medium, Marley Dixon. Her Séance’s were a whole lot different than this one. Soon she will be performing with the Mixed Company Carolers all Christmas season. For the last 6 Halloween’s she has been scaring at Knott’s Scary Farm and Dark Harbor on the Queen Mary. Brittani is a big musical theatre girl, some of her more recent roles were Inga (Young Frankenstein), Brenda Strong (Catch Me if You Can), Hodel (Fiddler on the Roof), Kate Monster (Avenue Q), Baker’s Wife (Into the Woods) and Gingy/Sugarplum Fairy (Shrek). She is excited to be joining The Séance cast this season. 

 

Desiree Nguyen (PUPPETEER): Desiree Nguyen is feeling spooktacular about making her debut at Cross Roads Escape Games! She graduated from UCI in 2017 and literally majored in Drama. While she considers herself primarily a director these days, it’s always a thrill to return to acting. Desiree has directed with OC New Voices Playwrights and UCI. She’s also stage managed and crewed at several Orange County community theatres including Chance Theater, Stagedoor Repertory, Newport Theatre Arts Center, and New Swan Shakespeare Festival. Desiree builds puppets, enjoys clowning, and loves supporting diverse talent and new works onstage. As an actor, she often plays dead people. It’s probably because she’s also a little dead inside. Desiree would like to thank her family and friends for supporting her and putting up with her morbid sense of humor. She tones it down on social media though. Follow her work on Instagram: @theatricaldez

 

Stepy Kamei (PUPPETEER): Stepy Kamei has been working in immersive theater and haunts since 2015. Her recent immersive theater credits include award-nominated Internal and the Captivated series, while haunt credits include Horror Made Here and Dark Harbor. She can currently be seen performing in The Séance as well as Dark Harbor for the 2019 haunt season, and is collaborating as a writer on an upcoming immersive theater production.

 

Crew Biographies:


Madison Rhoades (Writer, Director, Producer, Scenic Designer, Puppet Designer): Madison Rhoades is the Co-Owner and Creative Director of Cross Roads Escape Games. She graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts and Theatre from USC in 2013. She was the scenic designer for many small theatres around Los Angeles. She performed in the interactive theatre show, Delusion, for it’s first 3 years and was the Lead Scenic Painter for The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor from 2013-2015. Madison always dreamed of owning her own theatre one day. After falling in love with escape rooms, she opened Cross Roads in 2016 with her husband and has been designing games and interactive experiences ever since. 

 

Luke Rhoades (Asst. Director, Producer, Technical Director): Luke Rhoades is the Co-Owner and Technical Director of Cross Roads Escape Games. He graduated Vanguard University in 2014 with a B.A. in Theatre. Upon graduating Luke was the Master Carpenter at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood. He opened his own Escape Room business with his wife in 2016.

 

Ian Momii (Lighting Designer):  Ian’s background ranges all over the live event spectrum, having his hands in anything from theatre and concerts to corporate events and award shows. Locally in Los Angeles he is likely best known for his work as Lighting Designer and Technical Director for Delusion from 2014- spring 2019. Ian has also been part of Ceaseless Fun with their production of They Who Saw The Deep, and most recently Scout Expedition Co’s The Nest. Ian is excited to be returning to Cross Roads having helped Madison and Luke with The Hex Room and The Fun House.

 

Dan Waldkirch (Sound Designer): Dan Waldkirch is a musician, artist, and chess player from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. His music has been heard on over 30 primetime television shows and major motion pictures, including The Mindy Project, Jane the Virgin, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He designed the music and sound for all three of Cross Roads’ escape rooms, and his debut musical Save Me a Spot enjoyed a sold out Fringe run and nomination for A Little New Music’s Best Musical Theatre Songwriting award. He’s thrilled to be back making ominous drones for The Séance.

 

Lauren Orgill (Costume Designer/ Prop Master): Lauren is proud to be working at Cross Roads Escape Games again after assisting with costumes and props for The Hex Room, The Fun House, and The Psych Ward. You may also recognize her as Nurse Ratched promoting The Asylum mini-game. Lauren has a degree in Interior Design, and she has been sewing both interior projects and custom costumes for over 30 years. 

 

Christian Mutter (Special Effects): Christian Mutter is currently a Mechanical Engineering student at CSU Fullerton and enjoys tinkering with robotics and programming. He is excited to have the opportunity to apply those interests in The Séance. 

 

Directors Note:

The Séance has been something I have always wanted to do since we very first opened. It was actually planned to be one of our very first experiences. Back in 2015/2016 immersive theater was still very new, and even escape rooms were only know by a small handful of people, so we decided to wait.

We opened The Hex Room first, which was a revolutionary game for its time. It changed the normal escape room game mechanics, had completely immersive scenery and props, lighting effects, and sound.  Our next game, The Fun House, has a more traditional escape room game design to help people get acquainted with this new form of entertainment, but kept the high-quality set and special effects. It also introduced more character interaction between the audience and their game master, something that we felt was missing from escape rooms.

After having those games open a few years and seeing the rising trend in interactive entertainment, we created something new again, changing the game mechanics once more. In late 2018 we opened The Psych Ward, an escape room with a twist. This new game combined social deducting strategy, along with immersive theatre, and escape room elements. It is something completely new and thankfully it was met with high praise.

The Psych Ward acts as a bridge between our escape rooms and this new interactive theatre experience. The Séance is not an escape room, but it still gives you the same excitement that escape rooms do so well. I have always been fascinated by the afterlife and have experienced unexplainable things from working on The Queen Mary for 3 years.

While writing this show, I wanted to create something truly terrifying, but sticking with our theatre background and trend of creating something completely new. This show will both satisfy your haunt craving while also supplying you with a beautiful story full of suspense and terrifying imagery.

Our goal with this show is that we are able to bring it back year after year in new historic venues around the world. I hope you enjoy the show!

-Madison Rhodes

The Psych Ward at Cross Roads Escape Games

New twist to The Psych Ward

, , , 0

In the beginning of August, Dr. Griffin has made some groundbreaking new changes to his experiments within the testing facilities of the Psych Ward. In a recent interview about his findings, Dr. Griffin stated that the experiment has been a huge success so far but that more research is still needed. He says that the changes to the experiment are designed to illicit more fruitful interactions between both sane and insane patients.

Dr. Griffin states that after each completed task, a scanner will come on and allow patients to scan for points. However, at least two patients are required to scan for each completed task. This means that after each task, patients will have to choose at least one other patient to scan with them; making trust an even more valuable commodity inside the experiment.

In addition, after each patient has scanned their wristband, they will be prompted to anonymously select which team to send their points to; One button will give points to the sane team and the other will allow the insane team to steal the points for the task.

This is helpful for those patients that are trying to mask their identity from other patients. If a patient is under suspicion of being insane, they may choose to give the sane team their point in an attempt to deceive the sane patient.

This allows the insane team to stay under cover, but at a sacrifice of helping the sane team.

This opens the experiment to even more strategies, and not only for the insane patients. Doctor Griffin is curious to see the different ways his patients will try to help their team win.

This means that patients will have to pay very close attention to the behaviors of other patients throughout the entirety of the experiment, and that the question of who to trust has become an even more troublesome inquiry to answer than ever before.

Dr. Griffin would like to remind everyone that his experiment is for the patients’ own good and is critical to his ongoing research. The experiment is designed to study how patients interact with one another and that there are no other experiments going on inside the testing facility. He promises.

Well, you heard it here first folks. The psych ward has interesting new changes that allow for even greater acts of trust and betrayal between patients. And if Dr. Griffin says it is for their own good, then you know it has to be true. He is a Doctor after all.

From Cross Roads Behavioral Science Journal, September 1976

Jason Lee Sakal- Amateur Journalist, Day Manager, Game Master

tiki-master-tixpage

We Will Be At Midsummer Scream!

, 0

Join us at Midsummer Scream on Aug. 3rdand 4that the Long Beach Convention Center! We have 2 new experiences for you this year! Find us at booth 518 to play our new mini-game, THE BOX, and experience THE SÉANCE mini experience!

THE BOX is a 10 minute game for 3-5 players. One player will go inside The Box while an orderly locks them up to prepare for their 10 minute hydrotherapy treatment. The doctors are hoping this treatment helps calm you and heat the crazy right out. It has not been successful on the last patients, so this time they are upping the temperature. The temperature starts to rise to a deadly level; luckily you have some friends on the outside that are there to help you get out before you are cooked alive! This game is set in the same world as our newest hour-long game, The Psych Ward. If you haven’t played that yet, make sure you do soon!

THE SÉANCE is a 10 minute interactive theatre experience for up to 7 guests. Come visit Madam Ruth and get your future told by the spirits. Ask them questions and learn how to communicate with those on the other side. This event is a sneak peek into our next full length immersive theatre experience, THE SÉANCE, coming this October!

Tickets: Both experiences are FREE with the purchase of a ticket to Midsummer Scream. Use the promo code ESCAPE for 20% off your general admission tickets.

Sign ups: Guarantee yourself a chance to play by getting to the convention early and signing up for a time slot! Space is limited and is first come first served.

About Midsummer Scream: The largest Halloween and horror fan convention in the world, returns to Southern California August 3-4 for a monstrous weekend of thrills, chills, and haunting fun. For the first time, Midsummer Scream will occupy the entire Long Beach Convention Center, doubling the show’s size for 2019. This year promises to be the best yet, with an eerie and cool dark tiki theme, the return of industry giants like Universal, Knott’s Scary Farm, Dark Harbor, and Fright Fest, plus plenty of vendors, seminars, shows, and scares!

the box mini game

The Box Mini-Game

0

Cross Roads Escape Games is back at Midsummer Scream this year with a BRAND NEW MINI-GAME! If you loved our previous mini-game, The Asylum, you can’t miss THE BOX. 

In the 1970s, Hydrotherapy treatments consisted of placing patients in baths or steam cabinets for extended periods of time, sometimes days, to treat various conditions or simply to calm patients down. We are bringing back those frightful days with our newest experience.

One player will go inside THE BOX while an orderly locks them up to prepare for their 10 minutes hydrotherapy treatment. The doctors are hoping this treatment helps calm you and heat the crazy right out. It has not been successful on the last patients, so this time they are upping the temperature. The temperature starts to rise to a deadly level; luckily you have some friends on the outside that are there to help you get out before you are cooked alive!

This game is set in the same world as our newest hour-long game, The Psych Ward. If you haven’t played that yet, make sure you do soon!

Tell everyone you are going by RSVPing on our facebook event. 

Where can I play this awesome mini-game?

Where: Midsummer Scream Halloween Convention at the Long Beach Convention Center. Booth 518.

When: August 3rdand 4th, 2019

Game length: Up to 10 minutes.

Number of Players: 3-5. Only one person is required to go inside the box, the remaining 2-4 players will be on the outside.

Tickets: This game is FREE with the purchase of a ticket to Midsummer Scream. Use the promo code ESCAPE for 20% off your general admission tickets.

Sign ups: Guarantee yourself a chance to play by getting to the convention early and signing up for a time slot! Space is limited and is first come first served.

About Midsummer Scream: The largest Halloween and horror fan convention in the world, returns to Southern California August 3-4 for a monstrous weekend of thrills, chills, and haunting fun. For the first time, Midsummer Scream will occupy the entire Long Beach Convention Center, doubling the show’s size for 2019. This year promises to be the best yet, with an eerie and cool dark tiki theme, the return of industry giants like Universal, Knott’s Scary Farm, Dark Harbor, and Fright Fest, plus plenty of vendors, seminars, shows, and scares!

EScape Room Enthusiasts

Escape Room Enthusiasts LA Mixer

, , , , , , , , 0

You’re invited to the next Escape Room Enthusiasts Meet Up!

Hey everyone! Madison here. I am the CEO and Creative Director at Cross Roads Escape Games. I really appreciate you taking the time to read our blog! Thank you for your support! 

Ever since my husband and I opened Cross Roads in early 2016, we have been big advocates for creating a community between escape rooms, not competition. We love escape rooms and are enthusiasts ourselves. We have played over 200 escape rooms together. We come from a theatre background and we have seen what wonderful things can be created through collaboration and teamwork, and try to promote that as much as we can with our business. 

I run the SoCal Escape Room Enthusiasts Meetup group, which is a growing community of Escape Artists often posing about needing additional teammates for their games. I try to make events on this page as much as I can, but I was not as involved last year as I became more and more consumed with creating and building The Psych Ward. 

Now that The Psych Ward is up and running, I am trying to get the Meetup group active again. If you are interested in helping me run this group and creating events, please send me an email and can make you an event host! 

Back to what I was saying about collaboration, I reached out to a very cool place, Two Bit Circus in downtown LA, which is a micro amusement park with VR entertainment, arcade games, and escape rooms. I also reached out to a bunch of escape room owners in SoCal and have asked them to come to the event, and bring discount codes and flyers to their games! I am hoping the community comes together like for our last ‘Discount and Drinks’ events and we have a big turn out.

I would like to invite YOU to our next meetup: Games, Discounts, and Drinks at Two Bit Circus on Wednesday, July 10th from 6-9pm.

Games: Play in an ever-changing landscape of immersive entertainment; including multi- person virtual reality, narrative-based escape/story rooms, and indie arcades at Two Bit Circus in Downtown Los Angeles! 

Discounts: Mingle with other escape room enthusiasts and enjoy a table full of discounts to great escape rooms in Southern California!

Drinks: Enjoy $6 happy hour in the bar at Two Bit Circus!

More info: Admission is FREE. To play games and attractions, stop by the main desk and buy a playing card. This event is open to all ages and there is free parking outside the venue.

I hope you can make it!

Join our meetup group and RSVP here:

Games, Discounts, and Drinks at Two Bit Circus

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2019, 6:00 PM

Two Bit Circus
634 Mateo St Los Angeles, CA 15 Enthusiasts Attending

Join us for our biggest Meet Up yet! Play in an ever-changing landscape of immersive entertainment; including multi- person virtual reality, narrative-based escape/story rooms, indie arcades, and $6 happy hour at Two Bit Circus in Downtown Los Angeles! Mingle with other escape room enthusiasts and enjoy a table full of discounts to great escape roo…

Check out this Meetup →

IMG_3258

The Milestone Award for YOU!

, , , , , , 0

Do you love escape rooms? Are you about to play your 25th, 50th, 75th, 100th, 150th, 200th, or 250th Escape Room Game? Come celebrate that major milestone with us!

Choose a game at Cross Roads to be your milestone marker and celebrate your escape room accomplishments. We will even award your special player with a FREE certificate, documenting this historical achievement.

Show off your achievement with this amazing Escape Room Master Milestone Award Trophy! Available in both 6” and 9” sizes.

After your game, hang out with your friends in our private lounge and enjoy specialty designed cupcakes for your team!

Call or email us today book your game and plan your party! (714) 572-1004 or info@CrossRoadsEscapeGames.com

Since our games are replayable, come on back and see if you can beat your last score!

Prices:

Private Lounge Rental: $50 per hour

One dozen specialty cupcakes: $20 + tax

Large Trophy (9”): $25 + tax

Small Trophy (6”): $15 + tax

‘I Escaped!’ T-shirt: $20 + tax

Enjoy your Milestone party in our newly renovated private lounge!

MSS

Twitter & Instagram Contest

, , , , , 0

Show off your group photos and write a fun caption to win!

Contest Dates: June 10th- June 30th, 2019

What to do: Post your Cross Roads Escape Games group photo with a caption on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtags #CREGContest and #CrossRoadsEscapeGames

How to win: Winner will be notified through social media on July 3rd after all submissions have been reviewed. The best caption & photo combo wins! 

Prize: Two weekend tickets to Midsummer Scream and instant sign up for the new Cross Roads Mini Game! Midsummer Scream is a Halloween and Horror Convention in Long Beach on August 3rd& 4th. Cross Roads Escape Games will be there with a brand-new mini game experience. Winning this contest also gets you instant sign-ups for the game!

 

Easter-Golden-Eggs-569-by-270

An Egg-stra Challenging Easter Event!

, 0

Join us for a special event this week only! From April 17th-21st there will be 17 golden eggs hidden inside The Hex Room game. If your team is able to find them all and escape you could win some amazing prizes!

The Hex Room is our hardest game with a 20% escape rate and 5% survival rate. We have made this already challenging game egg-stra challenging by hiding 17 golden eggs inside. Can your team take on this egg-stra challenge and still escape?

If you do, it will be worth your while! We have over $1,700 worth of prizes donated by local businesses.

Prizes include:
Tickets to Medieval Times, Buena Park
Tickets to Midsummer Scream Halloween Convention Aug. 3rd & 4th, Long Beach
Tickets to GlowZone, Huntington Beach
Gift Card to Stereo Brewing, Anaheim
Free Pizza from Top Class Pizza, Anaheim
T-shirts from Cross Roads Escape Games, Anaheim
Escape Room Table Top Games
And more!

Prizes available while supplies last, so book your game today!

geoff_petsematary_header

Win exclusive Pet Sematary prizes!

, , , , 0

“There is something up in those woods. Something that brings things back. Sometimes dead is better,” warns Jud Crandall in the trailer for the upcoming film Pet Sematary.

I cannot tell you how excited I am to see the new Pet Sematary. Starry Eyes, the first film from directors Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, is one of my favorite horror films ever and from the moment I heard they were taking the helm of adapting Stephen King’s book, I knew we would be in for a dark and twisted treat. The film has already been receiving rave reviews after its screening at SXSW.

We here at Cross Roads are huge fans of horror. Every day we get to see people live out their very own horror flicks in The Hex Room. The Hex Room is a unique escape room because it is designed to be replayable. Before your game you are cast as either the Detective, Jock, Rebel, Prom Queen, Nerd, or Virgin. You are then placed into individual rooms within the game where it is your team’s job to communicate and escape the individual rooms to come together and escape the game in its entirety. Furthermore, teams are able to leave some players behind. Of course, this leads to a difficult game and often leaves us with a few casualties along the way. Don’t be disparaged, however; sometimes, dead IS better.

Dead Is Better
If you don’t escape your first try at The Hex Room (or if your group left you for dead), there are a few upsides to experiencing a horror movie death.

• You are now familiar with the gameplay. This will allow you to know just how much communication and teamwork the game requires.
• You will most likely have more time to focus on your Hex Box so you survive the horror flick.
• You are now the scariest thing in the room.

Promoters of Pet Sematary teamed up with Cross Roads Escape Games to offer players some merch. Anyone who plays one of our games can reward themselves to a Pet Sematary poster.

For those cunning enough to escape and survive The Hex Room with all SIX survivor medallions, the group will win a Pet Semetary flashlight while supplies last.

See if you have what it takes to survive a horror film with The Hex Room at Cross Roads Escape Games. And don’t worry. If you don’t make it out alive, we know how to bring you back. Prizes available while supplies last!

Watch the Pet Sematary trailer below!

About the movie: Based on the seminal horror novel by Stephen King, Pet Sematary follows Dr. Louis Creed (Jason Clarke), who, after relocating with his wife Rachel (Amy Seimetz) and their two young children from Boston to rural Maine, discovers a mysterious burial ground hidden deep in the woods near the family’s new home. When tragedy strikes, Louis turns to his unusual neighbor, Jud Crandall (John Lithgow), setting off a perilous chain reaction that unleashes an unfathomable evil with horrific consequences. In theaters April 5th, 2019.

Geoff Durham
Game Master, Manager, Would Pet Church the Cat
Cross Roads Escape Games

FDD _ Delusion

Win 2 free tickets to Delusion!

, , , , , , 0

Escape Rooms make you feel like the star of your own movie. You know what else does that? Interactive theatre! Delusion: The Blue Blade is giving away 2 free tickets to Cross Roads’ fans. Just enter your email below to enter to win! Last day to enter is February 25th, 2019.

For the first time ever, the vanguard of interactive theatre announces an extension of its hit play, The Blue Blade, into Spring 2019! The sixth story in the Delusion Universe has guests embark on a live, otherworldly adventure in the vein of Indiana Jones. You must play your part in the most epic theatrical production of its kind.

Fun Fact: Co-Owner of Cross Roads, Madison, was apart of Delusion for its first 3 years! You may remember her as Julia, a creepy little girl who tucked you in for a bedtime story in Delusion: The Blood Rite. She says, “This is a show you don’t want to miss!”

Enter to win here!

Load More