Have you ever dreamed about having Dwight Schrute as a co-worker or spending as much time at reception as Jim did at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company? While those dreams may never really come true, you can get close with a new experience in downtown D.C. based on “The Office.”
“Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me,” the character Michael Scott famously said during season three of the comedy series.
Scott’s wish has been granted; It’s scary how much people love the nearly 20-year-old sitcom.
In 2020, Americans logged 57 billion minutes of watching “The Office,” on Netflix alone, according to Nielsen data (Reruns of the series left Netflix last year). according to Nielsen data. The show premiered on NBC in 2005.
The loyal and rabid fan base has now spurred “The Office Experience,” at 1020 G Street NW. It will open to the public Thursday and last through Jan. 16, 2023.
“I think this is one of those shows where it’s real relatable characters. We all have a quirky co-worker or have had one at some point in our career. So I think that we’re all entertained by that,” said Stacy Moscatelli, co-president and chief strategy officer of Superfly X, the production company behind “The Office Experience.”
It includes a nearly exact recreation of the eponymous set, complete with Michael’s office, Pam’s desk and even the annex where humdrum human resources representative Toby works.
Fans will have the chance to act out their fantasies of working for the mild-mannered paper company Dunder Mifflin and get plenty of opportunities to take photographs.
Dwight’s desk comes complete with his stapler in Jell-O and you can sit behind Michael’s desk holding the “World’s Best Boss” mug (and like him, you can buy yourself one in the gift shop.)
“The Office Experience” also depicts some of the show’s most iconic moments.
Moscatelli said Superfly X, which also produced a similar experience around the TV show “Friends,” had input from fans of “The Office.”
“They felt like ‘beach day’ [“Beach Games,” episode 23 of the third season] was just a really big episode — so much happened. There are so many celebrated moments and quotes from that episode alone. So that came up a lot. Kevin’s chili spill [“Casual Friday” episode 26 of the fifth season] — I mean, even people who’ve never watched the show know about Kevin spilling the chili.”
Scattered throughout the exhibit are actual props that were used on the show, from Dwight’s mustard-colored shirts to Kevin’s pet turtle, which he tried to rebuild after running it over.
And what “Office” visit is complete without a peek at the warehouse, where the employees played basketball and learned that Stanley was not the secret weapon?
This warehouse has been turned into a retail shop, where you can purchase Dunder Mifflin paraphernalia — even a windshield sunshade with a picture of Meredith colliding into Michael’s car [“Fun Run,” episode 2 of the fourth season].
And as any “Office” fan knows; holidays are extremely important to celebrate, especially Halloween and Christmas.
“We obviously have a really strong ‘party planning committee’,” said Moscatelli. Let’s just hope Angela is not heading it up.
“We’ll definitely have some holiday moments. We’ll have some special programming; we might have some special guests along the way — we’ve got big plans for D.C.,” Moscatelli said.
