To finish my master’s degree in Stage Properties at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, I wanted to explore making props for interactive and immersive experiences. That lead perfectly to my love for escape rooms and my excitement about storytelling through items. Over the course of 6 months and with a $500 budget, I put together a concept, gameflow, and built out a 30 minute escape experience with help from the UNCSA Prop Shop, testing the durability of the props we had created. Afterwards, I wrote my thesis titled “Fabrication and Finishing Props for Themed and Immersive Environments” which I then successfully defended on May 7, 2021. The thesis can be found here: