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 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 Park 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, releasing The Missing: Online - a virtual adaptation of the original play, Lonely Hearts in Quarentine - an experience via Zoom, phone, and mail, and Lonely Hearts: Special Delivery - an experience told by mail over the course of two weeks.
Birch House returned to in person experiences with the fifth and sixth installments of the Lonely Hearts tradition: LH: The Game, an experience that somehow blended a multi-level marketing scheme with a board game night, and LH: The Haunting, which invited the audience into the basement speakeasy Room 13 for a seance attempting to contact Mr. Rigby’s late wife Eleanor. Additionally, they performed a live holiday special at the Annoyance Theater in December 2023 to support the launch of their Holiday Countdown Calendar, which told the story of the oldest holiday, Lux Brumalis, across the course of nine nights of tasks, objects, and stories.
In the Fall of 2024, Birch House produced their first full scale show since the pandemic with the new immersive musical The Last Days of Eden Creek, which explored the death of a small midwestern town through the form of a eulogy. Audience members were invited into the Episcopal Church of the Atonement to sing, dance, drink, and share in the grief and celebration of the life of Eden Creek and its people alongside the remaining descendants of the town’s founding families. Eden Creek also marked an important first for Birch House, with the release of a full cast recording following the conclusion of the experience.
In March of 2025 Birch House created their largest and silliest Lonely Hearts experience yet, LH: The Big Dance. Audience members joined the Rigby’s crew on the Stagg Court of the Chicago Athletic Association for a belated Valentine's dance that transformed into an exploration of collaboration v.s. competition when a local women’s basketball team challenged them for use of the court.
This Fall, Birch House will be collaborating with the students and faculty of the Theatre School at DePaul University to create a new experience: The Lieutenant’s Dream, an immersive journey through the past, present, and future of the Theatre School.
This Fall, Birch House will be collaborating with the students and faculty of the Theatre School at DePaul University to create a new experience:
The Lieutenant’s Dream, an immersive journey through the past, present, and future of the Theatre School.
