COMING SOON: Monster Party

In the days of yore Matt Dorado’s Drunken Devil parties were something of a legend on the LA haunt scene. After taking a break from producing in the wake of the High Pandemic and retiring the Drunken Devil characters and brand, Dorado has gotten the itch for making Spooky Season soirees, although now at a more intimate scale and with more of a focus on character and story.

Which leads us to Monster Party:

Set against the backdrop of McCarthyism and the Lavender Scare, MONSTER PARTY transports you to a lively Halloween cocktail soirée, hosted by an enigmatic woman known only as The Baroness. Also in attendance? Several peculiar party guests who have no idea who they are, or how they arrived at this particular gathering.

Grab a cocktail (or mocktail) from the bar, and start mingling as the party kicks into full swing! Play wicked parlor games, enjoy spellbinding theatrical performances, and… wait… is there an eyeball in that woman’s martini glass? It can’t be…

…at least, that’s what reason would say. But the more you engage with the party guests — and the charming yet mysterious Baroness — the more unhinged things become. As a twisted narrative unfolds around you, the absurd replaces the logical, and this once-convivial party will have you questioning your sanity (and, possibly, your moral compass).

Weaving together elements of midcentury cocktail parties, interactive performance, and grand guignol, MONSTER PARTY is a Halloween experience that is sure to delight and disturb; a depraved farce doubling as a commentary on revenge, remorse, and how giving in to our most visceral impulses can unleash the monsters within us.

Popping up for two nights on LA’s East Side, Monster Party tickets will run $85.

We checked in with creator Matt Dorado about the new event which runs October 3rd & 4th.

Follow @monsterpartyshow on Instagram for updates.

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No Proscenium: Tell us a little bit about your experience! What’s it about? What makes it immersive?

Matt Dorado: MONSTER PARTY is an immersive play within the context of a cocktail party… with some interesting twists. It’s set against the backdrop of McCarthyism and, specifically, the Lavender Scare — a moral panic instigated by Senator Joseph McCarthy that sought to root out and expel queer people from their government jobs — which adds some tension to the context of the experience. The soirée is hosted by an enigmatic woman known only as The Baroness, and, in addition to audience members, there are several strange party guests in attendance… none of whom know how they got there or who they are…

As audience members engage with these characters, they’ll slowly piece together the story… but as they do, the party gets more and more unhinged. There’s elements of surrealism, horror, dark comedy, and farce, all leading to a finale that’s possibly the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever written.

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It’s going to be a hoot and a holler.

NP: What was the inspiration for your upcoming experience?

MD: I’ve had this concept rolling around in my head for many years, even as I was producing under the Drunken Devil banner. The whole idea of a ‘cocktail party gone wrong’ isn’t new by any means, but I knew that I wanted to tell a story that fit within this format. After producing the Drunken Devil audio drama back in 2022 — and realizing that the D.D. brand was no longer aligned with who I am as an artist — I found myself coming back to this concept. I knew I wanted to create something queer, and I knew I wanted it to be a social commentary that would speak to issues we face in our modern world, but couldn’t find the premise.

One night, I got a little stoned and somehow found myself on a deep dive into the work of Francisco Goya. He has a series called Los caprichos (“The Caprices”), which was a scathing criticism of Spanish society’s ignorance and swiftly declining rationality. One of the pieces is entitled El sueño de la razón produce monstruos (“The sleep of reason produces monsters”) and that just sent me on a creative spiral that led me to creating MONSTER PARTY. What happens to us when we give in to our impulses and disregard rationality? What kind of monsters can we become when we give into these desires? Are we born with these monstrous tendencies, or are they just a byproduct of the cruel and brutal world we’re born into? These are the questions that I’m hoping to explore in this show, all because of Goya and a joint.

NP: What do you think fans of immersive will find most interesting about this latest experience?

MD: Look. I’m not here to promise that MONSTER PARTY is revolutionary or game-changing; it’s not breaking ground in the immersive scene. But what I can say is that I think fans will have fun. There are several complex narratives going on at once, and nearly all of the story is driven by audience-character interactions. There will be a lot to dig into, a lot to see, and a lot to play with — even though the show itself takes place in one room. And I think that even a casual immersive theatregoer, or someone new to the medium, will have a blast, because they’ll be able to watch the narrative unfold from the sidelines.

And boy does this one unfold. It explodes, really. Like a big, messy, sadistic Halloween orgy.

NP: Once you started designing and testing what did you discover about this experience that was unexpected?

MD: The further I got into the creative process — writing the script, developing the story beats, planning the reveals — I realized that I was crafting something entirely too dark. The story was incredibly bleak and the narrative was too depressing. But then I started dialing up the melodrama; the more I leaned into camp, I realized that this show could actually be a ton of fun — for performers and guests alike.

MONSTER PARTY deals with some really heavy shit — it’s about an incredibly dark time in our nation’s history (then again, which part of American history isn’t dark). But I think, throughout this process, I was really able to reconnect with who I am ultimately as a storyteller — someone who feels most comfortable producing work that could be perceived as outrageous or ridiculous. Because that’s fun. And I hope that fun resonates with the audience.

NP: What can fans who are coming to this, or thinking about coming to this, do to get into the mood of the experience?

MD: If guests wanted to do a quick Google search and read up on McCarthyism and the Lavender Scare — that would help give some context to the show’s setting. But certainly it’s not necessary to enjoy this experience.

But I think, most importantly, I want folks to release any expectations that this will be like a Drunken Devil show. While it has similar elements — it’s a sandbox style event with cocktails and interactive characters — it’s a very different type of experience.

This is an entirely new venture for me; a rebrand, if you will. I just wanted to create an unhinged, campy, twisted, ridiculous theatrical experience… and I really hope folks just lean in and have fun with it.

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