The No Proscenium Podcast

In NYC: Zay talks with choreographer Avital Asuleen, co-creator of the immersive dance theatre piece Ephemera about this dream ballet fueled by drinking and debauchery. Meanwhile, in LA, Noah has the news and notes. And he probably shares TMI. That is his M.O. these days. (That and writing in the third person again.)   Brought to you by our friends at Drafty: the CAD program built from the ground...

This week host Noah Nelson is joined by Julianne Just, Genevieve Gearhart, and Matthew Bamberg-Johnson of LA's The Speakeasy Society to talk about their latest production  Johnny: The Shell.  This is the second part of their cycle of work exploring Dalton Tumbo's  Johnny Get Your Gun , which opens on July 21st at St Mark's Episcopal Church in Glendale and runs through August 13th.   All that plus...

In 2014 Boxcar Theatre's The Speakeasy was the most talked about immersive experience in San Francisco, and then it disappeared. Now, after an extensive rebirthing experience the show is returning with a brand new, custom-built space. NoPro SF's Albert Kong visits the site of the new show while it is under construction to talk to Boxcar's Artistic Director Nick Olivero and producer David Gluck for...

Host Noah Nelson is joined by Chris Eng, founder of Mojo Maps Expedition Co., an LA-based theatrical walking tour group that mashes up history and improv in Venice, the Arts District, and Echo Park. The two dig into Chris' background as a business guy at Walt Disney Imagineering, creating experiences in urban landscapes, and just what the market is for this kind of work.   All that plus the usual...

This week: Noah interviews writer Ruth McKee, one of the core members of LA's Chalk Repertory Theatre, about her latest play 'In Case of Emergency.' The conversation ranges from the themes of the play itself, to how McKee's writing process is driven by a sense of space. A great, into the artistic meat of it, kind of episode. All that, plus the news and notes-- and a call for feedback.   THIS MONTH...

If you've been following the LA scene you have probably heard of Screenshot Productions, or at least their work: the company popped up during last year's spooky season with the solo haunt "Fear Is What We Learned Here" and since then have mutated into something... unique.  Screenshot founder Nicholas Sherwin Jr. and his partner Meghan Farrington sit down at No Pro headquarters with host Noah Nelso...

Sophie Bortolussi is the choreographer and co-director of LA's immersive hit   The Day Shall Declare It (which just announced an extension). Sophie sits down with host Noah Nelson in the back patio of the show right before a performance in the Arts District of DTLA (so, you know, it's gonna get loud) to talk about the show, how her training with the Martha Graham company led to a career in immersi...

Steve Peters, host of The Story Forward Podcast--a show about the future of storytelling and entertainment--joins our own Noah Nelson for this hybrid of both shows. Fun fact: Steve and Noah have known each other for a few years now, but they've never sat down and had a one on one before now. Another fun fact: Steve isn't just a podcast host, he's also an experience designer. Both with his company...

In this oh so special episode hosts Noah and Zay connect for a little late-night philosophizing over the role of narrative in immersive experiences. This is one you're going to want to pour a drink and mull over.   Content warning: I think we might get a little salty. Frankly, it's been a minute. Better just avoid playing this around kids.   All that and the usual news and notes. Hosted on Acast....

The director of Second Skin, a site-adaptive piece currently performed on the Santa Monica beach, joins host Noah Nelson for a discussion about site-specific theatre. This one gets *philosophical*, but in a totally fun way.    All this plus the usual news & notes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Zay Amsbury (@zayamsbury) takes over the interview duties this week to talk with Jennine Willet and Elizabeth Carena of Third Rail Projects (@TRPNYC) about the development of the company's latest show  The Grand Paradise  ahead of its scheduled close at the end of May. Secrets are revealed, ideas dissected, and a rando calls in with some weird story. All this and the usual news and notes from Noah...

Noah is back in LA with lessons learned from his NYC trip inthis host-only episode. We kick off with an extended news & notes before leaninginto some thoughts on The Grand Paradise , Accomplice , Then She Fell, Sleep NoMore,  how to manage problem guests, and wrap with programnotes and a question for you, the No Pro audience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Noah in New York City, No Pro's dynamic duo gets to go on an adventure together. They pick Janet Cardiff's 'Her Long Black Hair' an audio walking tour piece from 2004 that feels like it could have been made last week. Set in Central Park, 'Her Long Black Hair' takes listeners on a journey that can leave you feeling like you've slipped the bonds of times. This episode was recorded in Central P...

One of our favorite shows of 2015 is returning to the site of its run in LA's Arts District. But what they found might surprise you... or not, if you know the Arts District. The work to get The Day Shall Declare It back up on its feet for a May 10 bow has begun, and Wilderness founder Annie Saunders takes host Noah Nelson on a tour of the site where they talk about the future fate of the Arts Dist...

Host Noah Nelson (@noahjnelson) takes YOUR questions about the--still emerging--immersive art form. All that, plus news and a special announcement about a favorite show returning to Los Angeles. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Designer Uriah Findley (@theuriah) has been caught up with some of the most talked about long-form immersive experiences of the last decade. His work with Nonchalance on "The Jejune Institute" was documented in the film "The Institute" and he was instrumental in the building of "The Latitude," which reached its controversial conclusion in San Francisco this Fall. In the wake of "The Latitude" Find...

Host Noah Nelson drops in on NoPro SF curator Albert Kong and gets a lesson in Bay Area public/prankster performance art, and a glimpse into how Albert approaches his version of the newsletter. A fun conversation to be sure! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lauren Ludwig ( Hamlet-Mobile, Lost Moon Radio) is the director and adaptor of And The Drum, a movement based immersive in LA's Koreatown that is one part dinner party and two parts exploration of the poetry of Martha Marion. The piece, performed at Marion's own home, is one of the more stunning pieces of work to be staged on LA's immersive scene in the past year. Ludwig speaks with host Noah Nels...

NEW YORK CITY: Zay Amsbury talks with Jennine Willett and Elizabeth Carena of Third Rail Projects, the company behind  Then She Fell and  The Grand Paradise.  Settle in for a history of the company, a SECRET ORIGINS special if you will. (Ed. Note: No one but you will get that reference, Noah.) In other words: this is the big one. The episode we've been dying to do since the start of the podcast......

We go off the beaten path this week to talk to the creators of  Escape Room In A Box: The Werewolf Experience, which aims to bring the escape room genre home. The duo behind the game--Juliana Patel and Ariel Rubin--are two stay-at-home moms who love escape rooms but find it increasingly hard to get everything in order to get out to them. So they used their game playing acumen--and their theatre de...

Artists Scott Hove and Baker's Son join host Noah Nelson, along with Think Tank gallery Creative Director Jacob Patterson and Arya Davachi--director of Rough Sleeper--which will be using the gallery's Break Bread installation as the backdrop for his show. The conversation waxes philosophical about the nature of collaboration and the intersection between art installations and immersive theatre.  Ro...

We talk a lot about  Sleep No More and  Then She Fell at the margins of this podcast. This week's guest--performer Haylee Nichele--has danced in both shows. We are lucky to count her amongst our friends.  On this week's episode we step through the looking glass and see what the immersive life is like from a performer's point of view. We also nerd out a lot. Haylee's in Los Angeles these days, so N...

In the summer of last year Marike Splint, an incoming theatre professor at UCLA, reached out to us to talk about LA immersive theatre community. Now we visit Marike at her office on campus to talk about her experiences creating immersive performance and what the scene is like in The Netherlands, where she hails from. It's a fun talk. All that plus a blast of News Notes. (The fastest in ages... the...

This time out host Noah Nelson talks with Paul Stein, creator of The Car Plays and Moving Art's Lem Thornton about the origins of that show. Is it any surprise that there's a "necessity is the mother of invention" moral to the story? And STICK AROUND after the interview because our intrepid host FORGOT something cool in the News & Notes. Unless you are listening to this after Saturday Jan 30th. In...

Host Noah Nelson talks with the folks at Play Collaborative Arts ( Retrograde , Erotica )--Cole Rosner, Meredith Treinen, and Scott Monahan--about their take on devised work, making immersive theatre with an erotic charge, and the pitfalls of running an underground venue in LA's Arts District. All that, plus the usual news, notes, and a tease of what's to come. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...