A repeat client of THG Creative, the team first partnered with the Museum on the Thea-Award-Winning production, Beyond All Boundaries, a 45-minute multi-sensory experience that immerses audiences in the brutal reality of war.
Six years later, the Museum once again turned to THG to add a more intimate attraction within a new building on their campus – the Liberation Pavilion. This building would be the capstone experience for museum guests, providing them with the opportunity to contemplate the joys, costs, and meaning of liberation and freedom.
THG set out to develop a theater show that focused on the four universal freedoms laid out by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt – Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear – as well as the expanding global role the United States was destined to play in the post-WWII era. The Priddy Family Foundation Freedom Theater comprises a pre-show area and a three-act show.
From the start, this project presented significant and unique challenges. THG knew that this show must pass muster with professors and historians, while still retaining a narrative arc and emotional punch for guests. Additionally, as a ticketed attraction, the need to handle sufficient audience flow directly conflicted with the available space within a building filled with exhibits and displays.
The inspiration came to seat the audience on a turntable. This 44-foot diameter turntable is split in half, allowing for two audiences of 64 guests. At the start of Act 2, the turntable rotates 180 degrees, allowing a new group of guests to enter their half of the theatre. As a result, this 30-minute show can be ticketed up to three cycles an hour. An inflatable acoustic gasket and double-thick walls were designed to prevent sound bleed between the two audience groups. This innovative approach managed both the spatial and operational requirements for this attraction.
The Freedom Theater makes extensive use of projection mapping, including artistically jagged projection surfaces representing the shattered state of the world leading up to World War II. Trusses supporting media monitors fly up and down during the show, and deck tracks allow three massive high-resolution LED screens to move forward and backwards in choreography with the production, conveying the effects and aftermath of the war and, at the climax of the show, forming pillars featuring the Four Freedoms.
A faux flame created with water vapor and lighting effects represents the Torch of Freedom passed on from generation to generation. A live orchestra recorded the original score and soundtrack for the show, filling each half of the theatre with rich sound. These elements come together seamlessly with a significant amount of lighting, electromechanical, and scenic elements, all fitting elegantly within building infrastructure while keeping the technology and mechanics involved invisible to the enraptured audience.
Altogether, this show tells the story of why World War II was fought and how this historical event continues to affect our world today. Guests emerge from the experience with the understanding that freedom is fragile, and that we all have a responsibility to protect it. The Freedom Theater opened to the public near the end of 2023, and the National World War II Museum ran sold out shows from Christmas through New Years, illustrating the compelling nature and impact of this themed entertainment experience. The caliber of this show, in addition to the way the THG Creative team surpassed every challenge in its production, demonstrates a level of excellence worthy of consideration for a blooloop Innovation Award.
Partners
- THG Creative – Executive Producer
- National WWII Museum – Owner
- Mousetrappe Media – Media Production
- 7th Sense – Projection Mapping and Media Servers
- PSX – Rigging and Scenic Production, Show Programming
- Visual Terrain – Lighting Design
- CarouselUSA – Turntable Production
Images courtesy of The National WWII Museum