An exciting and unexpected treat for second timers through Anointment.

Experienced: December 17, 2017
Location: The L’Cheriyve Studio
Address: 620 W 135th St, Gardena, CA 90248
Price: $155
Audience Size: ~20
Runtime: ~120 minutes
More Information: The Lust Experience site, Noah Sinclair site, Instagram, Facebook

After hearing how risque the show had gotten since my first time through opening night I’ll admit I was a bit reluctant to go a second time. I got the same phone call other second timers had gotten to change our timeslot to the last showing of the final night. This made me even more anxious. Were they ratcheting up the intensity levels even more for us poor saps who were asking for more?

I arrived at the parking lot a bit late for the 11:30pm showtime. Morgan was there and lined us up against the wall. There were a lot of us maybe 30 or 40. He was very serious and intimidating as he spoke to us. He was asking us very tough questions making us reflect on what we had gone through our first time and why we were back. He asked if we could say we enjoyed every bit of our experience. Only a few raised their hands. He asked us what we were looking for by coming back.

Morgan told us that this, though it started that way, wasn’t a game to him anymore. He had gotten into immersive theater because it was exciting, pushed his boundaries, and he learned some things about himself in the process. He was now dealing with some very real, very heavy emotions. Some real friendships lost with others in jeopardy. He had someone (anonymously) wish upon him the same cancer that his own father had because of the Midnight Commission reveal (where he came out as the man behind the Midnight Commission to revive the BOS). The silence was deafening as we all stood there speechless.

Morgan said night after night he would see the reactions of people coming back from Anointment in various states of shock. He said one person couldn’t even text their friend he was shaking so much. He reminded us that the immoral debauchery we witnessed was what the OSDM was all about and made his case for the BOS. It was a very convincing.

Not all of the group was about to go back in some others were there for a separate BOS meeting. Morgan warned those of us going back in that he wouldn’t be able to help us this time. That the consistent chatter he had been intercepting from the OSDM communications on the previous nights were not at all the same tonight. He wasn’t sure what was going on but was sure something was up.

This was quite a build up and the frank chat with Morgan intensified any expectations going into this event. We boarded the shuttle in two groups so about 20 of us were going in. This time around there weren’t any mentions of secret handshakes or signals. We were told to line up at door in a single file line. We were told to face the building and not talk to each other. The shuttle driver and other security would just pace back and forth along the line which wrapped around the building.

We were let in one at a time about every 30-60 seconds. It began much the way the first night began though the tone was a bit more somber. There was no partying couple offering up pills or a good time. We were told to take a seat while the woman in red sang to us. After all of us piled on the couches with overflow taking a seat on the floor we were welcomed back by the same hostess I had my first night. She told us that tonight we were guests of the OSDM and that we would be able to roam the location as we wished. She encouraged us to explore all the nooks and crannies of what it has to offer.

I immediately went to the bar as I did the first night to get a drink. A drink to celebrate the bullet I dodged not having to lose all of my clothing in the welcoming scene. I started speaking to the old gentleman with a British accent as I had heard from others he had some interesting stories to tell.

The conversation I had was brilliant in that I have no clue if he was breaking the fourth wall or was completely in character. He would ask me how one would get a ticket to an event like this and if it was easy to get into. He asked me what I was looking for by coming. He was genuinely interested in the type of person who comes to this event. Was this him speaking in character or as a curious actor? He told me that he’s spent the last 4 nights hanging out and had several different stories to tell. That he would repeat these stories for all the guests coming through. Just when I thought he was talking to me as an actor he reiterated that the stories were all true before telling me several different stories, all about him being a filthy old rich man, back to back.

With that began what was quite possibly my favorite immersive experience ever. Maybe it was was the relief that this was not going to be as intense as the previous shows. Or maybe it was the chance to experience everything I wanted in as much detail as I wanted.

As the night went on we gained access to more and more of the compound presumably as the 11pm show was progressing through the last normal show of the run. This show instantly became exactly what everyone wanted out of it as the dining table became a giant game of Truth or Dare. I walked by and almost sat down but noticed a participant was somehow fully nude at this point so I passed. Those who wanted the risque debauchery of the original show found what they wanted. The rest of us looking for deeper interactions with the inhabitants of the show did just that.

Throughout all of this time the bar was open so I went back to get another drink or two and spent my time exploring.

There had been rumors on the Slack chat about “the room upstairs” (that quickly got deleted any time it was mentioned by the admin @a account) from prior nights and tonight Noah Nelson from No Proscenium was seen running down the stairs angrily yelling about how sick they were. He quickly got pulled back upstairs before storming out of the show completely.

I got to talk to Andy (confused dude) about The System Skid Row Workshop event he hosted with Sarah Sinclair and he was telling me that many people got the wrong idea. He asked me what I thought about it and I told him I enjoyed it and thought it was thought provoking. I commended him for putting on something polarizing instead of something middle of the road. We got to chat briefly about how amazing and life changing The System is.

I had a nice conversation with Sarah Sinclair about The System event as well though she seemed to be stressed out and distant. I found out that she was having concerns about Noah and how he was handling fatherhood. Noah apparently isn’t always there for their son Timmy. He’ll say he’s going to pick up Timmy from school but then flakes.

I met Tatiana who seemed confused and scared. Apparently another guest had gone through with her a few nights prior as a participant and talking tonight with the guest had her spooked. She was confused about her name and why she was even there or what she should do next. Moments like this were everywhere for anyone wanting to spend the time to explore. I ended up in a bathroom with a girl scrubbing blood on the floor. I mentioned to her that she wasn’t doing a great job cleaning the mess since she was just moving the blood around instead of wiping it up and she retorted “I don’t want to finish this, if I finish I’m not sure what they’ll do to me, I’d rather stay here”. It was an unexpectedly chilling answer.

Also had a quick chat with Joyce and I congratulated her on actually being alive. She had a good laugh when I asked “what was that all about?” and she joked that could be an alternate title or tagline for the sitcom “That’s So Joyce!”. Although she didn’t actually answer my question it was definitely nice seeing her.

I walked into what looked like a dressing room where Sabrina and a few other people were hanging out just talking. The hostess acknowledged me from meeting a few nights earlier and asked how I was doing. Maybe she knew I was a bit apprehensive going into this or maybe I was just a bit self conscious.

I walked by a room where Noah and Sarah Sinclair were having a heated discussion. Sarah pulled me into their conversation since we had spoken earlier Noah’s being sort of an absentee father. Noah rolled his eyes saying he wasn’t going to take advice from someone wearing a stupid masquerade mask. I took my mask off and had it off for the rest of the night. I tried my best to help out but Noah dropped a bomb about Sarah cheating on him. He said there are girls literally throwing their panties at him here every night and he has never cheated. I didn’t know what to say.

I may be rambling but I’m just trying to convey just how dynamic and active everything was during this finale. I was just scratching the surface of the immensely detailed world that was living and breathing before my eyes. Every inch of the compound was bursting with energy and storytelling. I wish we could have roamed for a lot longer but after over an hour we were all ushered into the final ceremony room.

We were treated to a final scene and final chance at conceiving the Anoch baby. This time Cecilia chose two people by name Stephanie and Deacon. Stephanie was screaming in terror and was even asking for Darren Bousman (the on again off again mastermind behind these experiences). Deacon and Stephanie were reluctantly getting undressed for the ceremony when Morgan and the BOS burst into the room to stop the scene. A lot of this happened quickly but ultimately the ceremony was stopped when Sabrina had an announcement for the room: she was pregnant– presumably with the Anoch baby. With that we were all left with a cliffhanger mid-season finale ending and were told to leave.

This finale was near perfection in my eyes and maybe it required the context of the first event and its structure to fully appreciate what was going on. This was an unexpected treat for those who purchased a second ticket and I’m impressed with the amount of effort put into a completely one off show. The payoff for those of us following the story and characters closely was completely unparalleled. To see characters I didn’t even know were part of Anointment (Andy, Joyce, and Sarah to name a few) ready to riff on their rich backstories was quite a surprise. I eagerly await the next chapters and am excited for the “grander, completely customized and site-specific finale” teased in the thank you email from The Creators to those of us who attended Anointment.