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“Uncanny Alley: A New Day” won the Emmy for Outstanding Emerging Media Program. The award came on the first night of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles in September 2026.
The winner is a live VR theatre show performed inside VRChat. Ferryman Collective, an artist-led nonprofit theatre company in Los Angeles, makes it with Virtual Worlds Company, an immersive studio in Cape Town. The production took the Impact prize at the 8th AUREA Awards in February 2026.
The Television Academy’s category page lists the two nominees Uncanny Alley beat. “Blumhouse Enhanced Cinema” on Meta Quest came from NBCUniversal, Blumhouse, Meta and Nexus Studios. “The World of Fallout” on Prime Video came from Amazon MGM Studios, Kilter Films, Magnopus and Bethesda Game Studios.
Two performers play 15 characters. One group of up to six is in the show at a time, and a performance runs 60 to 75 minutes with nothing pre-recorded.
“We know where the story begins and where it ends, but the audience determines so much about the journey between those points,” said Stephen Butchko, the writer-director and a co-founder of Ferryman Collective, in the production’s announcement.
Brendan Bradley is one of the two performers. “Our job is to catch it, honor it, and weave it back into the story,” he said.
VRChat is free. Each performance requires a ticket and a showtime. Audiences join on Quest 3, Quest 3S, Quest Pro or PCVR, or watch a YouTube livestream.
Ferryman Collective extended the run through 27 August 2026. After the Emmy win it listed further performances on Eventbrite.
The production premiered at Venice Immersive in 2024 and won the festival’s Fanheart3 XR award. It has since played SXSW, Raindance Immersive, the NewImages Festival in Paris, Augmented World Expo and SIGGRAPH.
Deirdre V. Lyons co-founded Ferryman Collective with Butchko and is assistant director on the production.
At Virtual Worlds Company, Rick Treweek built the original Uncanny Alley world in VRChat in 2020 and assembled more than 30 environments in Unity. Christopher Lane Davis, who works as Screaming Color, is technical director. He made the animation, effects, music and the control interface the performers use.
For small studios weighing whether awards recognition requires studio backing, this is the counter-example: a two-person creative team beat productions backed by NBCUniversal, Blumhouse, Amazon and Bethesda. For festival programmers, the win adds weight to a show that was already touring five circuits before the Emmy arrived.
What is “Uncanny Alley: A New Day”? A live VR theatre show performed inside VRChat by Ferryman Collective and Virtual Worlds Company. Two performers play 15 characters for one group of up to six at a time, and a performance runs 60 to 75 minutes.
Which Emmy did the VR theatre show “Uncanny Alley: A New Day” win? Outstanding Emerging Media Program, awarded on the first night of the 2026 Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.
Which projects did it beat for the Emerging Media Emmy? “Blumhouse Enhanced Cinema” on Meta Quest, from NBCUniversal, Blumhouse, Meta and Nexus Studios, and “The World of Fallout” on Prime Video, from Amazon MGM Studios, Kilter Films, Magnopus and Bethesda Game Studios.
How do audiences attend a live VR theatre performance in VRChat? Each performance takes a ticket and a showtime. Audiences join on Quest 3, Quest 3S, Quest Pro or PCVR, or watch a YouTube livestream.
Which festivals has Uncanny Alley played? It premiered at Venice Immersive in 2024 and won the Fanheart3 XR award there. It has since played SXSW, Raindance Immersive, the NewImages Festival in Paris, Augmented World Expo and SIGGRAPH.
