This week on the show we’re marking the imminent Halfway to Halloween point of the year with two interviews. First up: Jason Egan of Egan Productions - whose Saw, It, and Blair Witch escape games are perreniall favorites in Las Vegas, joins us to talk about his origins in haunts, and his latest endeavor: The John Wick Experience at AREA15. Then Dav…

As we near Episode 500 I want to start experimenting, exploring other ways to connect with members of the immersive creative community. One idea I've been toying with is a side-project where we talk with creators about works they love and that inspire them, and so that's what we do this week with long time backer, storyteller extraordinaire Jay Bus…

Another double header this week as first we're joined by Winston Fisher, Chief Executive officer of Las Vegas' AREA15 to talk about their 20-acre expansion this year which will see attractions like Felix & Paul Studios’ Interstellar Arc, The Museum of Ice Cream, and the highly anticipated Universal Horror Unleashed. Then Graham Wetterhahn of After …

This week we’re joined by Margaret Chandra Kerrison, who is here to talk about her latest book The Art of Immersive Storytelling: Strategies from the Gaming World. Many of you know Margaret from her time with Walt Disney Imagineering where she worked on some projects dear to our hearts like Galaxy’s Edge. These days she is Senior Creative Director …

This week we’re joined by Alexander Patterson, founder of Beat The Bomb and we go on the origin story journey of the New York based company which traces its roots to Alex’s time with Tough Mudder all the way to its post-pandemic expansion, including the opening THIS WEEKEND of Beat The bomb Denver — the SEVENTH overall. SHOW NOTES Beat The Bomb Bea…

This week on the show: another double header. FIrst up: Mikhael Tara Garver and Jenny Koons of Culture House Immersive are with us to talk a bit about the work going on over there, including a fair amount about working with creatives from outside the realm of immersive to bring their worlds to life. Then we check in with friend of the show Yannick …

This week on the show we’ve got a double header. FIrst up: Amy Ashton and Mia Fiorella of the La Jolla Playhouse will help me make a path through the lineup of this year’s Without Walls Festival, which is coming up April 24-27th on the campus of UC San Diego. Then Jimmy Reckitt and I talk about making Vampire LARPS which is exactly what he does as …

This week we are joined by Jack Aldisert of Deadweight Theatre, creator of The Manikins, which was the talk of the London immersive scene throughout 2024 — so much so that some legendary figures on that scene became collaborators — and which will be coming to the Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans this April and is sure to be all the talk there.…

This week on the show we’ve got a look at two of the experiences in this year’s SXSW XR Experience Competition — The Secret Life of Monsters: The Gateway Experience and Traces: The Grief Processor — we have the key creatives behind both joining us on the pod in a double header. Once again the SXSW lineup is filled with as many XR experiences, IRL a…

This week on the show we’re joined by Erica Boeke, CEO of XPLAND — which covers the business of experiential from awards shows to activism, sports to immersive — and who are gearing up for their second XLIST — which puts the spotlight on the most creative visionaries in experiential. Nominations for which are open RIGHT NOW. SHOW NOTES XPLAND The X…

This week on the show we’ve got a double feature. First up: Graham Wetterhahn of After Hours Theatre Company and NoPro’s own Parker Sela stop by to talk about Dark Library Paris: 1925, a new immersive cocktail experience that’s running in North Hollywood at present. Then: immersive theatre creator Michael Bontatibus, whose company Witness we have c…

This week on the show we’re joined by Planning Your Escape author and one of the creators of the upcoming Mystery Ave. in Portland, the one and only Laura Hall — who will not be talking about EITHER of those things but instead talking about the Center for Immersive Arts — her project to help preserve key parts of the history of immersive art.That i…

This week on the show, Stefanie Frey the Director of Organizing & Mobilization for Actor’s Equity Association — joins us to talk about how Equity — the union for actors and stage managers — has been expanding its membership into places like escape rooms and themed restaurants that touch upon our world of immersive experiences. SHOW NOTES Actor's Eq…

This week on the show, the Review Crew – in the form of NYC curator Allie Marotta, East Coast Editor at Large Blake Weil, Exec. Editor Emeritus Kathryn Yu, NYC correspondent Penelope Ray, and host Noah Nelson – gather to talk about the end of Sleep No More’s era defining run in New York City and the last run of shows and parties at the McKittrick H…

The original plan for this week was for us to have no episode while The Next Stage Immersive Summit was on. Because of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in LA brought about by the wildfires The Next Stage is postponed. We'll have more on the plans for that at a later date. In the meantime check the show notes for how to help those in LA. Show Notes L…

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 Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more i…

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…

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…

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 V…

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. H…

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 say…

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…

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 Imm…

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: Re…

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 Si…