At GRPM, laughter joins the lesson in Betka-Pope’s Cretaceous Countdown

The list of advances by the Grand Rapids Public Museum in recent years to welcome the community, broaden access, and foster a stronger sense of belonging that we’ve covered in our Bridge to Community Curiosity series includes one aspect that largely goes unmentioned: the power of laughter.

However, that changes on April 21, when teams of two to four people will participate in GRPM’s Cretaceous Countdown – an after-hours trivia event developed with Betka-Pope Productions. 

With the return of this popular and immersive event, humor plays a significant role in the learning setting, offering yet another way our public museum seeks to meaningfully and memorably engage with the collection and, in this case, the traveling exhibit Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family, on display until April 26.

Produced by Eirann and Jenna Betka-Pope, the event blends dinosaur facts, pop culture, teamwork, and a time-machine storyline inside the planetarium, turning a museum visit into something between a stage set, a game night, and a shared civic playground.

For Rapid Growth’s Bridge to Community Curiosity series, that matters because it expands what welcoming can look like in a public institution. Sometimes, welcoming is sensory awareness. Sometimes it is thoughtful design. And sometimes, as Eirann Betka-Pope suggests, it is about setting the stage for adults to let their guard down, laugh alongside strangers, and leave having learned something almost by surprise.

Production company shaped by adaptation

The path to establishing this museum partnership didn’t begin with dinosaurs. Betka-Pope Productions’ origin traces back to the uncertain times of the pandemic when local theaters shut down, depriving many performing artists of stage opportunities and hurting their income. 

Betka-Pope notes that this period led to a reevaluation of what defines performance and what makes a space a venue.

“The reason we started our company was adaptability,” Betka-Pope says. “To kind of read the ‘social room’ and see where those gaps are, what people are looking for, who’s not presenting it.”

Out of that moment came events like GR Tours, which brought people outdoors for crime, haunted, and queer history tours, and a series of neighborhood backyard events that helped build community, even as many traditional venues remained in flux. 

In 2021, that spirit of experimentation led Betka-Pope Productions to produce its first full-length production: Xanadu, at The Pyramid Scheme.

Betka-Pope says the show’s one-weekend run sold out, drawing more than 600 people and proving that West Michigan audiences were hungry – even while still wearing masks – for immersive, site-specific experiences that felt both playful and handmade. 

“We turned it into part roller rink, part theater, and the rest is history,” says Betka-Pope, noting the power of this one event to drive their young company’s trajectory forward.

That production history is significant because Cretaceous Countdown Trivia Night is not just a one-time novelty. It forms part of a broader creative evolution based on experimentation, collaboration, and a commitment to ensuring local artists are not exploited for their work. 

Betka-Pope, who uses they/them pronouns, notes that the company has consistently sought to develop innovative, site-specific projects while also ensuring fair compensation for local artists, particularly performing artists, who often go unpaid in a community where pay is inconsistent. 

A museum night built for play

The partnership with GRPM grew out of the museum’s willingness to move beyond a standard after-hours event. Betka-Pope credits Rob Schuitema, GRPM’s director of public programs, and other museum staff who were seeking new ways to welcome more adult play into the building, especially around major third-floor exhibitions.

The result has been a series of collaborations on sharks, dinosaurs, and cryptids — all designed to help visitors experience the museum in a more social, lightly theatrical way.

For the upcoming trivia night, guests will first move through the Tyrannosaurs: Meet the Family exhibition, gathering clues and facts before heading into the planetarium, where the room becomes a time machine and teams must work together to escape before the meteor hits.

It is more than just another night of trivia.

“I believe the best way to describe it is as an immersive experience,” Betka-Pope says.

The aim is to combine elements of a theatrical performance with participatory engagement, encouraging people to be fully present rather than just observing from a distance.

“They can expect to feel like a trivia event that is one part theatrical show,” Betka-Pope says. “The attendees are literally sitting back, relaxing, conversing with others, thus allowing the show to happen with them included, not just observing as one does with most theatrical productions.”

This subtle distinction highlights a challenge that many public institutions face. For those who don’t see themselves as typical museum visitors, the perception of a formal setting can feel distant, even cold. This event, as with many of the GRPM’s programs, aims to break that barrier through an engaging and educational atmosphere where teamwork and a touch of improvisation transform the experience into the fantastical. In this case, contestants in the planetarium will all race to complete the trivia challenge, hoping to beat a meteor barreling towards them. 

Betka-Pope says they will be in character even before the trivia starts, wandering the exhibit, pointing out clues, and engaging guests about their past time-travel experiences. While playful, this approach is also strategic. The goal is to immerse people in the experience before the planetarium lights go down and the games begin.

Conversation, connection, and the role of laughter

This event is especially appropriate for the Bridge to Community Curiosity series because it introduces a new dimension to the museum’s civic role: laughter as a tool for connection.

Betka-Pope says trivia works because each question does more than test what a person knows. It creates an opening for memory, debate, and conversation among teammates.

“You can answer an easy question in about five to 10 seconds, and then what we’ve seen is that folks use the rest of the time to connect within their group or meet others seated around you,” Betka-Pope says. “You’re opening up conversation and connection, and it’s wildly powerful, even if it seems as trivial as trivia.”

That idea feels very relevant now. In a post-pandemic world where many venues are still working to rebuild their audiences and many individuals are tiring of screens being their only social outlet, info-taining events such as Cretaceous Countdown Trivia Night provide a more engaging experience. They invite people to attend, share a space, and respond collectively in real time.

Betka-Pope says the museum is especially well-suited for that kind of experience because it is a place built around curiosity.

“The museum is a beautiful venue and offers an environment for people to come and not just learn, but also play,” Betka-Pope says.

That sentence explains the significance of this event. Museums are often asked to preserve, interpret, and educate. Betka-Pope’s work suggests they can also host the kind of low-pressure social energy that helps people feel more at ease inside those missions.

And this is where laughter matters. Betka-Pope describes humor not as an extra flourish, but as a genuine bridge.

“It’s such a wonderful tool for bridging connections,” Betka-Pope says.

That line highlights museums’ traditional role as places of learning. However, this event suggests that learning can also stretch to involve surprise, improvisation, and bursts of laughter when people temporarily forget to perform for each other—as we often do on social media—and instead share genuine moments in real life.

Building welcome by design

Betka-Pope emphasizes that the most meaningful feedback the company gets isn’t just about an event being fun, but about it feeling welcoming and safe. This is intentional. The company carefully considers who is present, how questions are formulated, and ensures the experience allows a diverse range of people to feel comfortable and enjoy the show.

“’Thank you for creating a welcoming space,’” Betka-Pope says, describing a feedback note they and co-creator Jenna Betka-Pope have heard from participants.

Although Eirann is usually the main face of the company, they emphasize that Jenna Betka-Pope is a key co-creator and operational driver behind the work.

“She is very much behind the scenes, in the operations and in the making, the glue of things,” Betka-Pope says. “I’m the balloons, and she glues my balloons together.”

A creative city still deciding what it values

Despite Grand Rapids’ investments in civic projects and aspirations of growth, the local artist community, though thriving in many ways, is frequently underfunded. Therefore, this museum partnership has an impact beyond a single enjoyable evening; it is a blueprint for how other institutions can collaborate with artists to enhance our city’s cultural fabric, moving away from viewing creativity solely as decoration.

Betka-Pope says that before Grand Rapids thinks too much about expanding outward, the community should do more to recognize and invest in the artists already here. They see their role, and that of others engaging with area institutions, as ensuring we have a solid landscape from which creatives can build their legacies and contribute to the story of this place through their contributions to our culture.

“We are performers. We are artists. We are here … and we’re not going anywhere,” Betka-Pope says.

That insistence gives Cretaceous Countdown Trivia Night a significance beyond just another event listing. It is an example of what can happen when a public museum opens its doors not only to visitors but also to local makers and creators whose work can animate the institution in fresh, exciting ways.

When asked about the event’s purpose, Betka-Pope emphasized collaboration, curiosity, and the potential for something fresh to develop in Grand Rapids.

“The power of collaborative energy between different businesses, groups, institutions, and local artists, plus the curiosity of an audience who’s willing to immerse themselves in this experience, will create not just another, but a new pocket of immersive experiences and ways to play and ways to learn through laughter,” Betka-Pope says.

For a museum series built on curiosity, this may be the most obvious message. Entry into a community is sometimes established through reverence, at other times through access. Occasionally, it is fostered by shared play, which demonstrates that a public institution can still surprise visitors — and that learning, at its best, can end with a smile on their faces as they leave.

For tickets to Cretaceous Countdown Trivia Night, please visit this link.

Photos provided by Betka Pope Productions.

This story is part of the Bridge to Community Curiosity, underwritten by the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Through this partnership, we highlight GRPM’s mission to inspire curiosity, deepen understanding, and foster belonging by showcasing the transformative power of arts and education in West Michigan.