On August 4, the Seattle Immersive Theater (SIT) sent out a promotional email about their next show: Serial Killer Speed Datingâa production from LA's Abel Horwitzâwas to take place at Capitol Hill's Liberty Lounge on August 19 and 20. âWeâre dying to see you thereâ read the email, promising speed dating with a twist.
Unlike a typical theater performance, this one seemed particularly dedicated to its dating game premise. Attendees had to register for one of three events: There were two options for male/female pairings and one for âgay,â which turned out to be for gay men only. A second âgayâ edition, this one for women, was âcoming soon.â The performance would seat participants with a potential soul mate for five minutes at a time. It was unclear how many participants would actually be actors, how many would be spectators, and how many would be spectators open to a potential romantic spark, but if you correctly identified the âserial killerâ from your brief dates, you could win a prize.
But, abruptly, the show was canceled. Tweets about the event were deleted, all mention of the event has been scrubbed from Seattle Immersive Theaterâs Facebook page, and the ticket link is now defunct. (Seattle Immersive Theaterâs website is also currently down, although SIT says it it being reworked and will be up again soon.)
Perhaps the show was doomed from the start. After its announcement, it drew criticism for being tone-deaf to violence against women. âIn this day and age where women are being more vocal about rape culture and the abuses they suffer at the hands of men, making everyday survival into a fun little game is irresponsible,â said Maggie McMuffin, a local performer. âYes, humanity sucks and the world is hard, but if thereâs no hope or catharsis in your art then youâre not making a statement about it, youâre just surrendering to it. Art should lift people up, transport them. Give them the fire to fight.â
Bold Type Tickets has confirmed the cancellation of all three events, as has Abel Horwitz, the creator of the show. âSKSD is my event,â he wrote in an email, âbut the logistics, marketing, and booking was through Seattle Immersive.â When I reached out to SIT, they said not enough men signed up. âOut of all the tickets sold, only 1 male ticket was purchased,â a representative told me. âWe have no idea why the guys didn't sign up.â
One idea: men donât want to go on dates with serial killers. Not that women do, but the stats on intimate partner violence mean the situation is a bit less hypothetical. As one woman wrote in a discussion of the event on Facebook, âIsnât trying to guess which person might murder you just, like, regular dating?â
Serial Killer Speed Dating offered a possibility of exploring fear, however real, in a controlled environment. McMuffin thinks the eventâs quiet cancellation is its own kind of misogyny, since it capitalized on the true-crime trend and then ignored those who actually wanted to participate: âYou basically canceled a show because dudes didnât want to see it," she said.