The No Proscenium Podcast

A quick check in from LA as the fire situation evolves, including updates on The Next Stage Immersive Summit, which at present is still on at the Pasadena Playhouse Jan 17-19. We will check in next week. SHOW NOTES GoFundMe for Suzanne Down to recover from the Eaton Fire Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the show, Parker Sela takes up the host duties to interview Nicole Orabona and Nathan Leigh of CirqueSaw about their remote repertory season consisting of Void Main , a revival of POV: You Are an AI Achieving Consciousness and workshop dates for labRats and just why an online theatre company is going to all the trouble of coding its own platform.  SHOW NOTES CirqueSaw @ WellAtten...

This week we wrap our End of the Year podcasts with our annual gathering of the NoPro Crew to look back at the year that was in immersive and look forward to what might be. Joining us for the chat are NoPro Toronto Curator Katrina Lat, New York Correspondent Nicholas Fortugno, correspondent-at-large Martin Gimenez, and Senior LA Reviewer Kathryn Yu. SHOW NOTES In the Matter of the Death of ‘Tamara...

At the end of every year we pull together a roundtable of journalists covering immersive to look back on what was and this year we’re talking with our colleagues in London, starting with NoPro curator Shelley Snyder, the Voidspace’s Katy Naylor, Immersive Rumors' Graham Fitzgerald, and Franco Milazzo stage critic for Broadway World UK. SHOW NOTES Voidspace Immersive Rumors Franco Milazzo, Broadway...

This week Ilana Gilovich , Chief Storyteller for Emursive Productions , joins me for our first-ever conversation and yes, we get into just what the Chief Storyteller for the production company behind Life And Trust and the McKittrick Hotel – home of Sleep No More in NYC — does and nerd out as only two theatre kids meeting for the first time can do. Happy Holidays: it’s one of THOSE No Pro episodes...

This week Shawn Kittelsen SVP Creative at Skydance Interactive, the creators of the just released Skydance’s Behemoth (available now on PSVR2, Steam VR, and Meta Quest) joins us to talk about the game which puts players into the role of Wren, a lone hunter who sets off for the Forsaken Lands to lift a terrible curse. The only way to do so is by saying the towering gods known as Behemoths. In...

This week we have a delightful doubleheader.  First up we have Ryan Payton , director of Batman: Arkham Shadow . I’ve been following Ryan’s career since he founded his studio Camouflaj back in 2011 back when I was doing stories about the rise of crowdfunding and here we are on the cusp of 2025 talking about the greatest game to be released on the Meta Quest platform so far. In this conversati...

This week we have a doubleheader as first we are joined by Third Rail Project’s Co-Artistic Director Jennine Willlet and musician Coyle Girelli to talk about their new collaboration True Love Forever, which has just opened in NYC. Then Immersive Experience Institute co-founder Kathryn Yu joins me as we break down just how next year’s Next Stage Immersive Summit — coming up Jan 17-19 in Pasadena, C...

On this episode: a preview of our 2024 Holiday Gift Guide with Kathryn Yu, Kevin Gossett, Patrick McLean, and Noah Nelson. Find the perfect gift for the immersive fan in yourself (even if that's just you). SHOW NOTES GIFT GUIDE LINKS Box TWO by Neil Patrick Harris and Theory11 Clue: Treachery at Tudor Mansion The Morrison Game Factory Star Trek: Resurgence Alan Wake 2 Star Wars: Outlaws Life &...

The last time British-Iranian theatre maker Javaad Alipoor joined us was way back in May of 2021 when we talked about Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran — which at the time we said was “an incredible multi-media theatre piece that links a constellation of Big Ideas into an incredibly human story.” His most recent work Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World is just about to w...

After our annual break we are back this week on a double header. First up, the one and only Nick Moran of Phantom Peak will be joining us to talk about the London favorite, which has conjured a Wild West town not far from the Canada Water station. What is in that Canada Water and why are there so many platypuses involved? We WON’T learn the answers to those questions but we will learn all abo...

This week on the show we gather the Review Crew to chat about our various Spooky Season and Autumnal Escapades. Nick Fortugno, Blake Weil, Katrina Lat, Laura Hess, and Patrick McLean join host Noah Nelson as we go coast to coast over to London, and into the wilds of VR in search of chills and thrills. SHOW NOTES The Next Stage Immersive Summit Denver Immersive Invitational Beetlejuice Beetlejuice:...

This week on the show we’re joined by Wesley James and Dallas Nichols of Phoenix based design + build firm LINE LAB for a conversation about building unique immersive environments for places like The Nemesis Club , and Platform 18 and the UnderTow Tiki Bar at Century Grand - all of which have received glowing reviews and accolades. But before we do that we’ll we kick things off with Tia Shearer Ba...

This week we’re joined by Carmel Clavin of Spectacle & Mirth , who just wrapped a tour of two immersive works — J ourney to the Kingdom of Hypnos and City Liminal — to talk about the challenges and opportunities of touring immersive work around the globe through the network of Fringe Festivals and beyond. And we break down the Badge Pricing and On-Sale dates for the 2025 Next Stage Immersive S...

This week we’re climbing The Ladder of success with Terry Pettigrew-Rolapp and Tommy Wallach of Hatch Escapes in Los Angeles as we talk about The Ladder , their long in development new game that turns escape game conventions on their ear and establishes itself as a new can’t miss immersive attraction.  SHOW NOTES The Ladder Hatch Escapes The Immersive Industry Report Surveys The Next Stage Su...

This week we heading to heaven and a galaxy far far away… sort of. The Heaven is Cowboix Hevvven , currently being built inside Meow Wolf’s RADIO TAVE in Houston, and we’re talking to Cole Bee Wilson, the creator of this new space which is Meow Wolf’s first fully functioning dive bar inside one of their exhibitions.  We talk to Cole from just outside the worksite, in the middle of a busy buil...

Another double header! First up, today is iPhone pre-order day, and that makes it a great day to drop my interview from July with Adam Lisagor, the man behind Sandwich — the firm that got its start making ads for apps and companies big and small because of the the original iPhone and has gotten BACK into the app development game for the Vision Pro with the apps Television and Theatre — with the la...

We kick off our Spooky Season 2024 coverage with an LA double header. First up: Justin Fix , Stephanie Turek , and Daniel Montgomery of JFI Productions are here with us to talk about the return of CREEP — the show that started it all for JFI and which has been one of the foundational rocks of LA’s Spooky Season for nearly a decade now. This year’s CREEP is a collaboration with the CBS series GHOST...

This week a doubleheader: Stephen Dobbie and Colin Nightingale of A Right/Left Project whose ORIGIN - A DEEP LISTENING EXPERIENCE is returning to London this September as part of London Design Week join us first. Stephen and Colin have been collaborators for two decades now, including their work with Punchdrunk stretching back to the early days of the storied companies. As a Right/Left Project the...

This week we’ve got a really unique edition of the podcast because a year ago I messed up! Last August I interviewed Doug North Cook , the CEO & Creative Director at Creature a new VR video game studio & label that draws upon the team's deep roots in both video games and VR, and is using a model that means indie studios can get the benefits of working with a larger publisher without giving...

We’re celebrating this milestone the best way we know how — by getting members of NoPro’s esteemed Review Crew together to wax philosophical about the state of things in the immersive cosmos.  This time out associate producer Parker Sela, New York City correspondent Nicholas Fortugno, and New England Curator Leah Davis join host Noah Nelson for a discussion that touches on the notions of...

This week: we’re back to the double header groove, first with a stop to chat with Aaron Blanton & Este Olivia, owners The Ghoulish Sanctuary , a Haunted Mansion inspired Airbnb in Kissimmee, Florida and then we look to the future with Corvas Brinkerhoff, one of the co-founders of Meow Wolf to talk about his new venture the in-development SUBMERSIVE , an immersive art spa that is planned t...

Listen in on host Noah Nelson's first conversation ever with legendary ARG designer Adrian Hon as they talk about game design, escape games, defining immersive, training actors and more. It’s a winding conversation between two folks who love this stuff more than anyone reasonably should. SHOW NOTES Adrian Hon Edinburgh Fringe Immersive Creators Meetup w/Adrian Hon Zombies Run! Perplex City Hosted...

This week on the show we have another double header, this time focused on escape game companies with a theatrical flair… or is that theatre companies who got the escape game itch? First: Tina Keenan , Managing Director of Toronto’s Secret City lets us on on their secrets: from their days of working with SCRAP to bring the escape game pioneer’s work to Toronto all the way to THE PERFECT BITE , thei...

This week on the show: NoPro London Curator Shelley Snyder talks with Parabolic Theatre's Owen Kingston about the return of Bridge Command to London . Plus: Majestic Repertory Theatre's Troy Heard , writer & director of the new immersive adaptation of Jane Austen's EMMA and actress Coco Lane Rigbye (Emma) join host Noah Nelson to dish on the new production that opens this week in Las Vegas . S...