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Mary Shelley Lives Here

Genre: live VR
Keywords: historical, drama, climate change, women, music
Format: VRChat (for Quest 2/3 or PCVR)
Developer: Hummingbird Interactive
Duration: 35 mins

About:
Mary Shelley wrote ‘Frankenstein’ but also ‘The Last Man’, a dystopia about a world that is dying due to climate change and war, and people that are too preoccupied with their own personal growth and happiness to change the tides. The book was inspired on her own life, dealing with losing friends and family and trying to find a new way to live, alone.
Live VR experience ‘Mary Shelley Lives Here’ now shows Mary as ‘The Last Man’ of her own book, living alone on a small island, in harmony with nature. Her visitors (the audience) get to personify the people in her life and re-enact her story with her. A live immersive experience about coming to terms with death, losing your tight group of friends and starting a new life as an individual.
Her visitors (the audience) get to personify the people in her life and re-enact her story with her. A live immersive experience about coming to terms with death, losing your tight group of friends and starting a new life as an individual.

Project details:
The below description (from BlueSky) from a show attendee during PXR gives a very good walkthrough of what the project is about.

Media:
Video and screenshots: https://vimeo.com/1032276008

Reviews and articles:
Kingston Theatre Alliance Review
FIVARS spotlight article

Festival Selections:
ELO25 10-13 July 2025
FIVARS 2025
PXR Conference November 2024

Mary Shelley Lives Here is written, directed and acted by Jedidjah Julia Noomen.
Worldbuilding by Max Beffert.
With thanks to Ferryman Collective and PXR for their support.

Game Design workshop for Playwrights

Game Design workshop for Playwrights

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This February I’ll be giving a workshop for Fabulamundi, a EU-funded, international playwrighting project that aims to develop a new methodology to sustain and train a new generation of playwrights, putting dramaturgy into the spotlight, removing the barriers to the profession and integrating digital tools and results in the creation process.
I’m looking forward to teaching playwrights more about narrative design and the ways you can use this way of looking at storytelling to engage with new audiences.

Last One Standing – Bahia Bakari

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BAHIA BAKARI
ONLY SURVIVOR OF COMOROS PLANE CRASH, 2009

Bahia was born and raised in Paris by parents who were originally from the Comoro Islands. Her native tongue is French. She was 12 when the plane crashed. She could barely swim. Nowadays she works in real estate and still lives in Paris. Her father, Kassim, wasn’t on the plane and took care of her in the years after the crash. Her mother, Aziza, died on the plane. She has two younger brothers, Badru and Badavi, and a younger sister, Badyan. They were not on the plane.

(Phone rings. Pick up.)

Hello?

(Caller says hello. Or not.)

What’s your name?

(Caller says their name. Or not.)

I’m Bahia.

I’ve told my story… So many times.
First, just after it happened.

Then again, for all of the journalists.

In a book.

In court.
I think they thought it would make me less lonely.

I think they thought sharing would help me cope.

And it did.

A little bit.

Have you ever felt better by sharing something?

(Wait for reaction.)

(If reaction: discuss. If no reaction: continue.)

Something that happened to you. A story. An emotion.

(Pick up from here after discussion.)

I shared something that was so unique… That they couldn’t get enough of it.
Here’s my story.

It was a small plane.
There were flies inside, and it smelled like a bathroom.
We were on our way to my granddad’s wedding.
We traveled from France, me and my mom.
Changed planes in Yemen, then on our way for the last leg of the trip.
To Moroni. Comoro Islands. Granddad.
I was excited. And tired.
I was twelve.

We started our descent.
I pressed my forehead against the small window, next to my seat.
Tried to see the islands.
But it was nighttime. Dark.

I didn’t see anything.
I was thinking about granddad. How happy he’d be to see us. How he’d tell me that I’d grown. How he would hug me and smile and tell me about all of the fun stuff he’d planned for us.
And then I fell.


I felt something like an electric shock go through my body.
I thought I had just tumbled down.
I thought I had fallen out of the airplane, by pressing my forehead too hard against the window.
I was sure my mom would scold me for not wearing my seatbelt.
There I was, in the water.
I thought it was just me.
But then I heard the voices.
I didn’t see anyone.
It was just as dark as it had seemed from the window of the plane.
I held on to something, didn’t know what, just that it kept me safe.
I had a strange taste in my mouth, like jet fuel.
And I heard voices, in the distance.
They were shouting, faintly. I think it was in Comorian.
I tried to shout back, but I didn’t know who I was answering to, or what they said.
Pitch black.
Eventually I fell asleep.
When I woke up, the voices were gone.

I could finally see.
Water.
Plane debris.
And a coastline, somewhere, but the water was choppy and I couldn’t really make it out.
I tried to climb on the largest piece of metal I saw, but I couldn’t.
I just had to hold on.

My hip and my collarbone were broken, and I had some burns.
But otherwise I was fine, the doctor said.
I asked after my mother.
After the other passengers.
I thought everyone had arrived safely.
That I was the only one who fell.
Tumbled through the window of the plane, just because I’d been too eager to look outside.
That it had just been me.
Just me.

(Pause for potential reaction by caller.)

(If reaction: discuss.)

(If no reaction: continue, new tone of voice.)

I’m flying again.
I didn’t want the accident keeping me from my future.
So one day, I just boarded a plane again.
I wasn’t scared.
Are you afraid of flying?

(Wait for reaction.)

(If yes:)
I get it.
It’s easy for me.
I don’t have to be afraid any more.
I survived.
Maybe next time, I don’t.
Anything can happen.
I know that now.

(If no:)
Good.
You shouldn’t.
Being scared doesn’t solve anything.
It just makes you feel more lonely.
Different.
And I don’t want to feel different any more.

(If never flown:)
(Ask why, if caller feels talkative.)
(Then:)
They asked me if I regretted boarding the plane.
But how could I.
I was twelve.
I was with my mom.
It was a celebration.
A family trip.
There is nothing to regret, when you’re twelve.

(Continuing, different tone of voice.)

People treat you differently, you know.
They can’t help it.
They mean well.
But I don’t want to be different any more.
I just want to be me. Bahia.
Not ‘the only girl who survived’.
Not ‘the miracle girl’.
Not any more.

Nobody asked me what my hobbies are. What makes me smile. What makes me dance.
What makes you dance?

(If answer, discuss. Note: caller might ask for your hobbies, smiles or dances. Potential answers: her younger brothers and sisters, photos of her grandfather, traveling, Twarab music – Maalesh is a well-known artist – a pain au chocolat that’s still warm.)

(After discussion, if caller has talked a lot:)
Thank you for sharing your story with me.
It’s comforting to hear other people’s stories.
I know people have found comfort in mine.
And that’s okay.

(After discussion, if caller has not talked a lot:)
I know people have found comfort in my story.
And that’s okay.

(Continuing:)
I’ve not done anything special.
What happened to me, was pure bad luck, that somehow turned into good luck.
But sometimes those are the things you need to hang on to.
Stories of wonder, that help you through the day.
I’m fine with that.
I guess I’ll always stay ‘the miracle girl’ for some people.
I should accept that.
As long as I’m also just Bahia for others.
Just a girl, pressing her head against a window, to look at all the beauty that’s out there.

This is the end of our call.
Thank you, again.
Please stay a while, and contemplate, if you want.
We have a mailbox, the mailbox of solace.
In it, you can put your own personal note.
Give it a try.
Thank you (use name if mentioned).

(Pause for potential reaction, then hang up.)





Last One Standing – Project information

Last One Standing – Project information

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‘Last One Standing’ is an experience that wants you to think about what it would be like to be the last one of a specific group. There a a lot of things in our current world that have the capacity to isolate us, so how can we connect our own feelings of loneliness and emptyness to those of others, and show empathy? Listen to the story of your chosen ‘last one standing’ or interact with them – you decide.

Last One Standing – Trailer Philadelphia Fringe Festival

Categories/Themes
solo audience experience
immersive
phonecall
historical

So what is the experience exactly?
In Last One Standing, you are led into a small room. This room hosts a table and chair, pen and paper and a mobile phone. There are several objects and trinkets placed throughout the room, a small mailbox, and there is also a note on the wall with a list of names and phone numbers:
Eugene, last man on the moon
‘Man of the Hole’, last Tanaru Tribesman
Bahia, only survivor of Comoros Plane Crash
Ruth, last woman to be hanged in the UK
When you choose to call a number, you will get connected to the person of your choice, who will tell their story through monologue. The monologue slowly turns into a conversation, where you will be asked questions about loneliness, feeling singled out, being the last one.
After the phonecall ends, you will get a message on the mobile device, asking you to share you current feelings, and also some possible solace for the person you have just talked to. You can write this down and drop it in the so-called ‘mailbox of solace’. This mailbox will contain messages from the people who went before you, and will continue to be filled by the people visiting the experience after you.

Performances and history
A first version of this show has been tested at the Cannonball Festival during Philadelphia Fringe, in September 2023. ‘Last One Standing’ was selected for the so-called Snack Track, where small experiemental immersive projects get room and support to develop into somethng that could be sustainable and repeatable. This first short run acted as a series of try-outs.

Additional info
The ‘mailbox of solace’ as described above is currently a tangible mailbox. We’re looking into the possibility to make this mailbox digital. This would have the advantage that the (anonymous) messages put into the box would be available to everyone. There are positives to this; being able to share these stories of solace between people who have done the experience will create a bigger connection to the artwork and will also allow us to prolong this connection, since they would be able to log in and read this many months later as well. Howeverm there is also something to be said for the closed experience.
Additional funding has been requested from the Canadian Digital Fund to make a prototype of the digital version, and we expect a verdict on this request at the end of September. If funding is granted, we will start implementing this after Cannonball Festival.

Text example
Click here for the text of one of the phone calls (Bahia, only survivor of plane crash). Because of the interactive nature of the piece, the experience will be slightly different for every caller.

Practical info
Needed: a small indoor space that feels comfortable for one person. Any space can be transformed into a performance space for ‘Last One Standing’ and the setdressing will adjust to the original function. No additional technical assistance or light/sound cues, the only requirement is that there is a good phone signal and the room can be made cozy with available light (or by adding smaller lights to the space). The experience takes 20-30 minutes in total.

As Last One Standing is similar to an interactive installation, and the actors do not have to attend the theatre space live, this project can be set up by the programming festival/location without anyone from Hummingbird Interactive present. The festival will be sent a package with some props and an instruction for the person/volunteer manning the door. This will keep costs low, and the project available for many locations around the world. Of course, someone from Hummingbird will always be available remotely during all showtimes for troubleshooting or other issues that pop up.

About the Artist
Jedidjah Julia Noomen, founder of Hummingbird Interactive, is a Dutch/Canadian writer/director and narrative experience designer. She started out in film and theatre, and used her experience in location based and immersive theatre as a gateway into the digital and video game industry. There, she contributed narrative design to unique projects like Alt-Frequencies, a sci-fi audio-only game about misinformation (French Game Award for ‘Best social theme’) and Mrs Benz, a VR experience about the woman behind the very first car (official XR selection Venice and SXSW). 
She currently lives on a small island in BC, Canada where she develops stories and immersive experiences on loneliness, fate and nature.

Cast
Onella de Zilva, Mercedes Hesselroth, Janine Renee Cunningham, Simon Green, John Torres Chapman, Rylan Klaseen, Fred Skoler.


Storytelling panel at Playtime, Bruges

Storytelling panel at Playtime, Bruges

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I was a guest at the storytelling panel of Playtime in Bruges, Belgium, on the 17th of September.
Playtime is a gamefestival that explores gaming in all its facets and aims to show a large array of gaming experiences; digital, XR, installations and much, much more. The festival takes place over 3 days and is free of charge. The panel discussion focused on storytelling throughout different interactive media.

Chat-texts mobile game

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These screenshots are from the game Travelbound, which is currently in softlaunch. The player buys and renovates buildings on a small island, and has been added to the groupchat of some of the inhabitants of the island. This game is still in development and the narrative design is also still being tested and adjusted.
The examples below are from different buildings; please note the building/level title on top. All of the buildings have their own developing story, but because the buildings can be unlocked in different orders, the building stories themselves are not sequential.

Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation Boardmember

Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation Boardmember

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Since May 2021 I’m a board member for the IFTF. The Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation (IFTF) helps ensure the ongoing maintenance, improvement, and preservation of the tools and services crucial to the creation and distribution of interactive fiction, as well as the development of new projects to foster the continued growth of this art form.

Comics x Games lecture: How Comics helped me write Videogames

Comics x Games lecture: How Comics helped me write Videogames

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I was a guest at this year’s Comics x Games festival, usually in Toronto but this year fully online. Comics x Games celebrates the two art forms by showcasing games, comics and lectures. This year the festival was via Twitch from 8-15 May.
More info on my lecture and all of the other guests can be found here.
The whole live stream can be rewatched here.