Winner, Interactive 2022

Lucy and the Wolves in the Walls

Fable Studio, Third Rail Projects, Sound+Design, Story Studio & Experiences (Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest)

Through the endearing and earnest narrative of Lucy and the Wolves in the Walls, Fable Studio deftly invites us to shift our perspective–to see the world as experienced by its eight-year-old protagonist, Lucy. This interactive journey transports us through the alchemy of VR into the role of a young girl’s imaginary friend. While we are invisible to all other characters in her life, for Lucy we are witness, confidant, and fellow explorer. Her eye contact with us is that much more meaningful because we go otherwise unseen. With a piece of chalk, she literally draws us into being. She gives us hands to interact with the world. So when she requests our trust, we give it, even when the rest of her family denies the evidence of her experience. Central to Lucy’s story is the delicate balance of truth, evidence, and belief. Lucy and the Wolves in the Walls is, at its heart, a celebration of wonder. It is a reminder of the liminal space of possibility we occupy as children. The audience desire to remain with Lucy in that space was so strong that the creators extended her life across multiple platforms—artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies—allowing us to communicate meaningfully with her in real time. For its sweet insistence that all is not as it seems in the world, that trust and belief transcend age, that neither adults nor children have cornered the market on truth, and for its invitation to be curious at every corner, Lucy and the Wolves in the Walls receives a Peabody.