The REACH Opening Festival at the Kennedy Center

Step into new worlds in our Virtual Reality Lounge, where you can put on an Oculus headset that brings to life colorful adventures near, far, and beyond imagination in three dimensions!

Half Life VR
Director: Robert Connor, Producer: Royal Swedish Opera
Step right in to the Royal Swedish Ballet's production of Half Life in this singular VR experience. From pioneering contemporary choreographer Sharon Eyal, Half Life progresses with her signature language of cyborg-like angular movements and poses to the beat of minimal techno. The performance by the Royal Swedish Ballet was filmed from 60 different angles using 360° VR cameras. At one moment you’re looking at the ensemble from above, and the next you’re standing among them. Details of movement, costume, and expression are up close and personal for a uniquely immersive and artistic experience

Last Whispers
Director: Lena Herzog, Producer: Emblematic Group
Last Whispers is a project about the mass extinction of languages. By definition, this extinction occurs in silence, since silence is the very form it takes. Every two weeks the world loses a language. At an unprecedented speed, faster than the extinction of some species, our linguistic diversity—the very means by which we know ourselves—is eroding. Today, out of the 7,000 languages remaining on Earth, only 30 are spoken among the majority of the world population. It is estimated that at least half of the planet’s currently spoken languages will have died out by the end of this century. Some estimates project a much greater speed of disappearance. Last Whispers is an immersive oratorio, an invocation of the languages that have gone extinct and an incantation of those that are endangered.

“Circle of Life” in 360º | THE LION KING on Broadway
Director: Julie Taymor, Producer: Total Cinema 360
THE LION KING continues as one of the most popular stage musicals in the world, with a worldwide gross exceeding that of any film, Broadway show or other entertainment title in box office history. “Circle of Life” in 360 allows viewers – in a seamless 360° sweep – to experience the number from within it, completely surrounded by the 31 cast members onstage, Julie Taymor’s eye-popping puppets and masks, set pieces flying in from above and actors emerging from two floors below the stage as Pride Rock rises up to present Mufasa, Rafiki and baby Simba. The virtual reality technology enables viewers to choose where to look at every point, inviting repeat viewings of the video to take in every possible vantage point.

The Parksville Murders
Composer: Kamala Sankaram, Librettist: Jerre Dye, Director: Cari Ann Shim Sham, Producer: Opera on Tap
Two young women (Sarah and Corrine) wake up confused and terrified in a dark, surreal, music-filled world of incongruities and evil intentions, a space where Time seems to have curved in on itself somehow. Grotesque, masked figures slowly gather around the two from the corners of the darkened room, ceremoniously awaiting the women’s fate. As the thundering sonic world escalates and The Watchers descend upon them, one woman fights her way out, only to find that ‘out’ might be yet another illusion in this horrific, virtual universe. Will you help Sarah?

Traveling While Black
Director: Roger Ross Williams, Producer: Felix & Paul Studios
Traveling While Black is a cinematic VR experience that immerses the viewer in the long history of restriction of movement for black Americans and the creation of safe spaces in our communities. Visit historic Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington, D.C. and join patrons as they share and reflect on their experiences. Confronting the way we understand and talk about race in America, Traveling While Black highlights the urgent need to facilitate a dialogue about the challenges minority travelers still face today.