Scott Cramton

The Maverick of Immersive Theater

Scott Cramton is an innovator focused on driving the experience economy to empower people to rejuvenate their lives and encourage them to become agents of change.

A veteran in the immersion industry, Scott has been involved in the rapidly growing movement since the early 2000’s.

He is the founder of American Immersion Theater (AIT). This company encapsulates his many passion projects. These niche theater businesses include The Murder Mystery Co., The Princess Party Co., Famous for a Day, and The Superhero Experience–just to name a few.

Never give up,

never grow up.

What really is immersion theater? Stripped down to its core, it is an environment which provides an accessible way for people to play again. Scott never wanted to stop playing. He wasn’t sure why everyone else did, until he realized they didn’t choose to stop–they were forced to.

Like a comic book character who took his mom saying “You can be anything you want to be when you grow up” a little too literally, Scott began building his dream from his home in Grand Rapids, MI. The fact that he needed a job to pay bills was just a fact of life, but no one said that job had to be ordinary.

He stood firm in his conviction: If he can make his life into a game he gets to play in and in turn help rekindle the joy of play for others, he’ll do anything to make that happen.

That idea has blossomed into an unstoppable network of actors across the nation. Cramton, and by extension AIT, was driving the immersive scene before there was a name for it.

But this isn’t a one person movement. Scott is the ringleader of 27 national troupes performing over 10,000 shows a year in private homes and public venues. This makes AIT the biggest theater company in the US.

Want to speak with one of the leading experts in immersive theater about how you bring can live entertainment to your next event?

Born in Detroit, MI

Scott was born with a severe cleft palate. After years of surgeries and vocal training, a fourth-grader Scott was told by a speech therapist that his progress was incredible and he could do anything, “except be an actor or public speaker.”

2000's

Formation of GR Improv

Small beginnings: Scott takes on murder mystery shows for the first time with his friend Michael O’Hair and a group of local actors known as GR Improv.

2000-2006

Sleuthin' in the Windy City

While working a full time job at Art Van, Scott gets his first corporate mystery client, McDonald’s. GR Improv continues to grow and the demand is difficult to meet. Justin Issa and Adam Mack (Scott’s childhood friends) take over the company’s operations in Chicago.

2009

Explosion of The Murder Mystery Co.

The launch of Groupon helps skyrocket a small operation into a national enterprise. MMC launches new troupes in locations served by Groupon.

2013-2015

Theater for a Good Cause

Each year, MMC performs a mystery show with the students of the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) program to benefit the Anna Bonde Scholarship fund. This is a cause close to Scott’s heart as a CAPA alumni. Princess appearances are also donated to Children's Hospitals regularly.

2016 - present

Grand Hotel

A partnership with the famous hotel on Mackinaw Island has brough successful events, like the Grand Princess and Superhero Weekend and Murder Mystery at the Grand Hotel.

2019

1980

Undergrad at Grand Valley State University

Graduates with a Bachelor of Science in Theater at the Grand Rapids based university.

2002

The Haunt & Early Mystery Shows

Creates and works at The Haunt, West Michigan’s premier haunted attraction. He helped double their profits. Murder mysteries become a side project, performing one show every two months for 3-4 years.

2007-2008

The King of Death Rises

Scott quits his job to take on the murder mystery business full time. He hires salespeople and a script editor for the first time. GR Improv is rebranded as Grimprov.

2011

American Immersion Theater is Born

14 employees move out of Scott’s basement in 2012 and move into a small building with flooding issues. In 2015, the team moves into a newly designed building. 26 troupes across the country are established. The company rebrands itself as American Immersion Theater to encompass the entertainment services offered outside of murder mysteries.

2009 - present

Troupe Homes

Getting a space for each troupe to rehearse and meet in has been a huge milestone.

2017 - present

Best Laid Plans at the Houdini Estate

Scott orchestrates a large scale immersive 30’s murder mystery at the Houdini Estate, hosted by Joey Graceffa.

The Most Experienced
Experience Experiencer

Before you look it up, yes–that is proper English.

All jokes aside, Scott is someone who’s seen it all, done it all, and experienced it all in the realm of immersive theater.

A world traveler through his craft, he has attended performances all over the globe. From Sleep No More and Mouse Trap to an intimate superheroes vs. villains showdown in a New York warehouse, chances are he has bought his tickets to check out what the other interactive theater savvy entrepreneurs have to offer.

He is truly the Experience Economy’s #1 Attendee, supposing there was a method to measure such a title.

Perfecting
The Formula

Over the last two decades, Scott has worked at perfecting the immersion formula with his company, American Immersion Theater. AIT strives for high quality, consistent performances. The professional actors of each troupe are specially trained to give every attendee a unique, memorable interaction to walk away with. No two experiences will be the same. The most important goal of the experience is to deliver these moments as a standard.

The AIT Method allows for this ideal to be replicated across the country. It’s a game where people are not excluded. A game where people can connect.

After all, an immersive performance is not just an absurdist, unstructured free-for-all.

It’s meant to invoke people’s ability to become a part of their experiences in a way that moves or changes them. It lets them put on a different hat and participate in an adventure their normal life would never provide for them.