YUM! is an innovative participatory XR (Extended Reality) music theater that immerses audiences in a satirical dining experience where grotesque beauty, dark humor, and tech-driven narratives intertwine. Created by Studio M.A.R.S., this production transports viewers to a parallel universe—vividly absurd and hauntingly familiar—where a sheen of opulence conceals a world plagued by climate catastrophe, food shortages, and societal decay.

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Through exaggerated storytelling, YUM! delves into themes of class, identity, and self-obsession. XR technology serves as both a dramaturgical and metaphorical tool, revealing how digital media distorts perception and blurs the line between the authentic and the artificial.

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In YUM!, digital illusion collides with physical reality as an XR app transforms revolting jelly dishes into sumptuous virtual feasts, symbolizing our daily interactions with digital devices. Here, technology questions its role in a dystopian society—do screens distort reality, or do they simply mirror our artificial lives?

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At the core of YUM! is its pioneering use of AR and VR, seamlessly blending mixed reality with live performance to draw audiences into an uncanny, digital-woven experience. Over sixty surreal minutes, audiences are immersed in a distorted high-society world of grotesque, fake luxuries as the planet teeters on collapse. Dining with self-obsessed characters, they are pulled further into this fabricated reality with satirical ‘Advertisements,’ revealing how digital opulence masks environmental devastation, food shortages, and societal emptiness. In YUM!, devices aren’t just tools; they’re façades masking decay.

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Performance Note: The show is designed for active participatory table audiences, with fourteen table viewers equipped with XR devices, as well as passive watcher audiences who can view from auditorium seats or walk around without XR devices.

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