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House of Leaves aims for a refined afterhours experience with Late Affair at S Bar

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House of Leaves’ Late Affair at S Bar
Stephen Greathouse / Courtesy

You won’t find the House of Leaves on any tangible map. It’s a concept seen in one’s wildest dreams, charged by the imagination and executed by nightlife’s most iron-willed and innovative minds.

“It’s bringing that experience of a show in and around [people] so that they can feel it,” explains Mark Eteson, a DJ of 17 years who created House of Leaves with fellow former Hakkasan Group colleague Andrea Frey, who has worked in festivals and arena productions for 25 years.

“They’re not just watching the show. They’re not just listening passively. They’re a part of the story,” Eteson says.

Part performance art, part unparalleled party, House of Leaves offers late-night revelers what could be described as Cirque du Soleil on psychedelics, sprinkled with a little pixie dust. Whimsical characters such as The Duke, an exuberantly dressed master of ceremonies, and the mysterious Mirror Queens, roam freely on the dancefloor, interacting with guests, along with a troupe of masked creatures seemingly ripped from a storybook.

Eteson dreamed up the concept in 2020, after reflecting on nightlife during the pandemic. “Because I’d experienced it from the DJ booth, I was trying to think, what can we give them that’s more than this? What’s missing?” he says.

After pulling in Frey, House of Leaves debuted at the Keep Memory Alive Center in 2021. For one night, the Frank Gehry-designed, 9,800-square-foot space transformed into an enchanted forest full of foliage and tree folk. Eteson and other DJs soundtracked the party, bridging the worlds of immersive theater and club culture.

House of Leaves returned for Area15’s Secret Garden party this year. But its latest endeavor, Late Affair at Mandalay Bay’s intimate S Bar, promises an entirely new adventure.

“It’s almost like House of Leaves after dark,” says Jonnis Tannis, creative director at Jacs Innovating Entertainment and collaborator for Late Affair. “We’re gonna focus a little bit on the more sensual, sexual side, the more uninhibited. [It’s] that part of the party where things get a little bit more promiscuous, a little bit more fun and a little bit more open.”

An interesting set of characters will drive the narrative. One to watch is The Sovereign, “a sexy, strong female character that represents carnal desires and that sexual energy we all have,” Tannis explains. “Her thing wasn’t just to be the typical sexy girl dancing at a distance. She had one of her male companions on a leash, and she walked him through the hotel.”

And these captured men aren’t The Sovereign’s only playthings. She might even collar you. The hope is for guests to start recognizing these characters more as they appear. It’s possible you’ve already seen them in other shows without realizing it.

“We have access to so much talent from Cirque du Soleil to Spiegelworld, because it’s at a window where ... they have that availability,” Tannis says. “Whatever we can put in to create this mystical world where these characters dwell, it will be there.”

Music is another key element. Expect a range of deep house, tech house and “cultured house,” Tannis says, “for those who listen to house with a martini.”

Late Affair aims to offer an alternative experience unlike anything the Strip has seen. “There is a gap here that we want to fill by offering an after-hours that has some style and elegance to it,” Frey says.

“But that also gets a little bit down and dirty,” Tannis interjects.

“It’s something that’s evolving and changing as we go,” Eteson continues. “We are going to be a little bit edgy. We are going to be a little bit sexy, but that’s what people are looking for.”

LATE AFFAIR Saturdays, 1-6 a.m., S Bar, sbe.com.

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Tags: Nightlife
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Amber Sampson

Amber Sampson is a Staff Writer for Las Vegas Weekly. She got her start in journalism as an intern at ...

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