Update and Featured Work Reveal - labRats by cirqueSaw!
May 22nd, 2025
Hello all joiners and submitters - thanks to our sponsors and supporters, I’m happy to announce two things!
First, the award payment for the winning game in each category will be $250, in addition to bragging rights of course! On that note, we’ll have the shortlist for you soon… :)
Second, I’m excited to announce our inaugural Showcase Featured Work - labRats, by cirqueSaw! The amazing artists over at cirqueSaw will be presenting three free shows specifically for members of the NarraScope community in the leadup to the Showcase and Conference dates!
About labRats
Despite all your rage, you are still just a rat in a cage. Luckily, you’re also a rat who’s been outfitted with a neural implant that allows you to communicate telepathically with the other rats in your cage. Maybe that’ll help.
labRats is a new digitally native interactive workshop performance by the award-winning duo cirqueSaw. Pulling equally from classic games, silent films, and a generous helping of Lewis Carroll, the piece seeks to blur the line between reality and unreality, between wonder and horror. Audiences play as lab rats in an experiment beyond their control, who have to work together to take control of their lives. Whether they choose to escape, take over the lab, or deconstruct the fabric of the reality of their experience itself is entirely up to them.
Though it has been tested on mobile devices, the text may be difficult to read on a smaller screen, and we have encountered inconsistencies with how iPhones handle the animations, so we strongly recommend you use a laptop or desktop. If you are planning on experiencing this with another person in the same space, you should reserve one ticket for each device.
Run time: 60-75 minutes, depending on your choices.
Written by Nathan Leigh Performed by Nicole Orabona
Sound cool?
Has your interest been piqued? Are you, perchance, excited by the possibility of attending a showing? Find out more about when the showings are and how to get a ticket by joining our Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation Discord, linked here:
Then, navigate to the narrascope-announcements channel!
Thank you so much, cirqueSaw - and I cant wait to see labRats myself!
Talk soon,
vel
TLDR: $250 award for showcase category winners, and free interactive theatre show dates for the NarraScope community by cirqueSaw!