Have You Seen Jake – A Recollection of Bars & Hotels

Below is a Recollection–this is not a review, but rather a full spoiler walkthrough of the author’s experience in Have You Seen Jake’s Bars & Hotels event in 2016. As this event will not occur again, spoilers should not be a worry. 

It starts similar to any other night: I’m at a bar in LA with a couple friends, and I’m meeting someone new. She hugs my friends, remarking on how long it’s been since she saw them last. She introduces herself—her name is Heather, and she is friendly and warm, just like any friend of a friend would be.

The issue is… she’s not real.

Heather is a character in Have You Seen Jake (HYSJ), a new immersive theater experience that’s equal parts On the Road and Eyes Wide Shut. HYSJ centers on Jake, a twenty-something lover of poetry and giraffes who has disappeared recently. It’s up to participants to join the ongoing search party and help find him. Efforts to discover why Jake has vanished are impeded by characters that range from a group of animal mask wearing psychopaths named THEM to a curly-haired woman named SHE who enjoys giving threatening “courtesy calls” to new search party members with child-like crayon drawings to match.

In this event, my friends and I were tasked to meet Heather, a friend of Jake’s who can provide some insight into his mysterious past. After introductions, we grab drinks from the bar and return to a dark, candlelit table where Heather is waiting. As we converse, the topics range from the casual to serious as Heather reveals everything from Jake’s love of the Hemingway House in Key West to the death of his girlfriend, Ember, in a tragic accident.

Our conversation is soon interrupted by a drunken, surly woman pushing two of my friends apart to sit between them. This is Sniffles, Jake’s sister and a player favorite. Sniffles accuses Heather of being led to the bar on “false pretenses,” and proceeds to condemn everything from Heather’s appearance to her willingness to use other people to search for Jake. Heather becomes more and more uncomfortable, and she ultimately excuses herself from the bar.

We offer to walk her to her car, and as we wait for her ride, one of my bolder friends attempts one final press for information: “Do you know where Jake is? Who are the people in the animal masks?” Heather stammers, looking for the right words as her ride approaches. We see three people in masks—a zebra, a giraffe, and a cobra— as the car pulls up next to our group.  Heather looks us dead in the eye and says “Well, this is my ride. I had fun” and enters the car. We are stunned. Heather was one of Jake’s best friends–why would she willingly get in a car with Them?

Heather did leave us with a clue though. She had slipped us a note before she left—an address. This will lead us to the last place Jake was seen, and we are tasked to investigate the location individually. One by one, we journey a couple blocks down to a nearby hotel. I find the room indicated in the instructions, and enter.

The room is in disarray, but not dirty. A suitcase full of clothes and a dream journal sits by the bed. Books litter every corner of the room. As I explore, I find notes from various characters, drawings pinned to the wall, a calendar discussing haunt events, and even porn by the bed. This is not only where Jake was last seen, this is where he lived for some time. But, I am not alone in the room—there is a man in a giraffe mask, watching my every move in an unnerving fashion.

I am looking for Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, but it is not in any of the book stacks. I continue to search, but I am unsuccessful. As my time in the room expires,  the giraffe hands me a phone and on it is Mr. S, an over-the-top, almost conspiratorial gentleman who implies that Jake isn’t as innocent as he seems. Jake sold his body in this very room, and Mr.S takes pleasure in guiding me to the evidence I can’t refute.

The call ends. The giraffe grabs me roughly, forcing me to the floor. A nearby door opens, and the two other members of THEM from the car appear. They grab me, and taunt me mercilessly on both my reasons for helping to find Jake and other more personal ones. They instruct me to pull my pants down and get on Jake’s bed–pinning me to it. And then they ask me:

“Have you ever been branded, Max?”

I expect the worst, but only feel the cold ink of a marker against my lower back. They let me off easy this time, but They assure me that our next encounter won’t be as smooth. I’m thrown out of the hotel room with my pants barely back on, and join my friends. They reveal that on my back is the word “USED,” and that each of their brands are personal insults to their character.

This was the third in-person event of HYSJ, and reinforced a simple idea: things aren’t always as they seem. It’s no coincidence that Heather’s warm smile hid an alliance with THEM, or that Jake’s love of poetry didn’t stop him from pulling tricks in a hotel room. Don’t let the childish imagery fool you: there’s a story here that is modern, dark, and unabashedly sexual.

As an in-person event, HYSJ executed moments with the precision of a more experienced haunt. Acting was deceptively organic, yet flexible and capable of a large amount of improvisation. I’ve yet to develop a real connection to the titular Jake, but this event was an excellent introduction to his twisted world and the monsters that live there. Furthermore, for a free show, the amount of care and effort put into this was truly impressive.

Nonetheless, for lovers of more extreme immersive theatre, the recent event at times felt restrained and cerebral than actually threatening. In an industry that presents many different approaches towards physical encounters and violence, it will be curious to see where HYSJ takes its place. However, there are hints of more physically extreme elements being used in the future. I received one such hint via a phone call a few days later. It was Them, threatening use of an iron on me in graphic detail— and it came with an Instagram image to match:

Members of the HYSJ search party are being intertwined within the story in increasingly personal, and sinister ways. Here’s hoping we don’t wind up USED.

HYSJ’s first ticketed event, Dreams and Therapy, occurs in December. More information on HYSJ can be found at haveyouseenjake.com.