Macbeth (Nicholas Bruder) dances with Lady Macbeth (Sophie Bortolussi).
Photo: Yaniv Schulman

NEW YORK — I watched a man die in Manhattan last week. Frozen in place, unsure whether or not to get involved, I stood and did nothing as another man suffocated him with a pillow. What else could I have done? Should I have stopped him? If I had tried, would it have accomplished anything?

Moments like that are just part of the show in Sleep No More, an interactive theatrical performance that at times seems like a videogame come to life. It begins in a dimly lit bar, where audience members are greeted by...

1492: Christopher Columbus, sailing for the Spanish crown, weighs anchor for the New World.

From his flagship Santa Maria, Columbus commanded a squadron that included the caravels Niña and Pinta. The original purpose of the voyage was not to discover new lands but to open up a trade route to the "Indies" or Asia, that would allow Spanish merchantmen to bypass the hostile Muslim fleets sailing out of the Middle East.

Columbus tried to interest the Portuguese in his scheme, but they took a pass. He would have been spurned by Spain, too, had that nation’s centuries-long war with the Moors been g...