This week we head down to San Diego to talk with Optika Moderna's David Israel Reynoso about LA LUCHA , the company's latest immersive theatre piece that will preview during the Without Walls Festival (April 27-30) and then full open in May. Reynoso's previous shows Waking La Llorona and Las Quinceañeras stand tall in NoPro's immersive pantheon, and we expect LA LUCHA to to the same. Plus: a few more notes on WOW, and some updates on The Next Stage and our ongoing Patreon campaign. SHOW NOTES Do...
Mar 31, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 385
Those of you who follow the world of experiential marketing have definitely heard of Giant Spoon, the full stack advertising agency that has put together some of the most talked about marketing activations of the era. Favorites of ours like SXSWestworld, The Last of Us premiere, or maybe our favorite thing ever: The Ink Hole puppet speakeasy for The HappyTime Murders. We talk a lot about production here, but we wanted to understand more about how these activations come into being from the client...
Mar 17, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 383
This week a special teamspeak episode of the podcast featuring the NoPro Staff including Leah Davis, Patrick McLean, Laura Hess, Blake Weil, and for the first time on the show Parker Sela, our associate producer. We recorded this a couple of weeks ago, chatting about what we’ve been going to see and experience with a touch of what we’re looking forward to. The conversation ranges WILDLY, but at around the 55 minute mark we get into a discussion and a description of artist Paul McCarthy’s White S...
Mar 10, 2023•1 hr 30 min•Season 1Ep. 382
This week on the show our dear friend artist Nancy Baker Cahill is back for another enlightening conversation about digital art — both her work and the big currents that are shaping this constantly evolving world — from XR to working on massive public pieces that are immersive in a whole other dimensions, with stops along the way to talk about museum grade NFTs and incorporating generative AI into the work. SHOW NOTES Nancy Baker Cahill NoPro Podcast Episode 177: Nancy Baker Cahill Quest’s Back ...
Mar 03, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 381
This week on the show NoPro’s London curator Shelley Snyder takes over the interview duties to talk with Immersive Everywhere’s Brian Hook about the company’s upcoming debut of The Great Gatsby in New York City after a long London run, along with a few updates about Gatsby’s future in the UK. It's the first of what’s set to be some regular podcast dispatches coming out of London thanks to the continued support of our Patreon backers. SHOW NOTES Immersive Everywhere The Great Gatsby Review Rundow...
Feb 24, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 380
This week on the show YET ANOTHER doubleheader, only this time we’re staying on the VR side of things with a check in with ILMxLAB and then with the organizers of the XR Live Performance festival. First — From ILMxLAB we talk with Director Jose Perez III and CG & Lighting Lead Ronman Ng about the PLAYSTATION VR2 launch title Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge: Enhanced Edition . This is what it says on the tin: an Enhanced Edition of the game we already love, and we get into just what i...
Feb 17, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 1Ep. 379
This week on the show another doubleheader, this time reaching into two different parts of the immersiverse. First up we have a great talk with Nate Koch, the prolific producer who has been part of Sleep No More , Queen of the Night , and the epic opening of Hermès’ flagship store in New York City to talk about a career that balances creating art and working with some of the biggest companies in the world as clients for experiential marketing. It’s the first time Nate and I have talked, and we h...
Feb 10, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 378
This week on the show a DOUBLEHEADER with a double dose of horror. First, our good friend Bryan Bishop stops by wearing a brand new hat: he’s the Immersive Curator for this year’s Overlook Film Festival — the horror focused genre festival which is coming up in March in New Orleans, and he’s here to tell us all about what’s on tap for the festival. Then Winston Fisher , Co-Founder and CEO of AREA 15 dials in to give us the lowdown on the recently announced next phase of the Area 15 District in La...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 377
This week a special episode of the pod as Leah Davis, our New England correspondent, takes over the host duties for a panel on LARP in 2023. They’re joined by Darker Larper aka Dann, a LARP creator and academic and Nicholas Fortugno , Director of Gaming Pathways at City College of NY and co-founder of the Come Out and Play festival. (Plus Noah is there in the background, engineering and chiming in a little.) Show Notes NYC Immersive Community Meetup The Nest 40 Watts From Nowhere on KCRW Call Sh...
Jan 27, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 376
In Sugar Land, Texas, just outside of Houston, a bold experiment that brings together performance, puppetry, creative technology, and interactive storytelling waits for the curious and adventurous. This is The Department of Wonder, and it looks to be bringing together all the elements we talk about on the podcast regularly all under one roof. This week we talk with Brandon Oldenburg and Limbert Fabian Co-Heads of Creative at The Department of Wonder about what their team has built, how they got ...
Jan 20, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 375
Last January we told you all about the Black Immersive Creators Grant , which gives direct support to a Black maker who is launching original immersive work with a grant fund target of $10,000. This year the Grant is back and looking to do it all over again. Joining us on the pod this week is Maya Carter - Vice President of the Board of the Black Immersive Creators Grant — and Grant support team member Kendra Slack of Linked Dance Theatre . Show Notes Black Immersive Creators Grant Call Sheet - ...
Jan 13, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 374
We kick off 2023 by talking with the creators responsible for one of our 2022 highlights: the NoPro Review Crew trip to The Ministry of Peculiarities: Hope End in Azuza, CA. This escape game is the talk of SoCal's immersive scene, as it blends the best of escape room sleuthing with dialed in performances and a game structure where story is the ultimate reward. We sit down with Adam Moody and brothers Jonathan & Benjamin Berk, the creative team who are Overlook Film Festival bound this Spring...
Jan 06, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 373
This week on the show — you’ve got two MIGHTY SEGMENTS featuring members of the Senior Staff of NoPro — Arts Editor Laura Hess, Senior Editor Leah Davis, LA Reviews Editor Kevin Gossett, East Coast Curator at Large Blake Weil all join us in part one [6:37], and then London Curator Shelley Snyder and Chicago Curator Patrick McLean join us for part two [57:23]. SHOW NOTES NoPro's Best Immersive Moments of 2022 NoPro's Best Immersive Experiences of 2022 Telelibrary Public Auction Hosted on Acast. S...
Dec 21, 2022•2 hr 17 min•Season 1Ep. 372
This week we sit down for one-on-one talks with members of our Review Crew to dive into their favorite moments & experiences of 2022. Each team member covers their favorite moment and one of their top shows of the year. You can find an expanded written, but not identical, version of this at our website. RUN ORDER Shelley Snyder, London Curator [6:42] Kevin Gossett, LA Reviews Editor [19:06] Katrina Lat, Toronto Correspondent [23:23] Nicholas Fortugno, New York Correspondent [36:25] Patrick M...
Dec 16, 2022•2 hr•Season 1Ep. 371
This week on the show — first we take a trip out to the South Coast Botanic Garden the site of Moment Factory’s ASTRA LUMINA, where with talk with Jonathan St-Onge and Thomas Pintal of Moment Factory and Isabel Solano Global Vice President of Live Experiences at Fever, who are co-presenting Astra Lumina in LA. Then we chat with Andy Barnes of London's Immersive Experience Network about what this creative community centered group has on tap for 2023, including their current fundraiser for their I...
Dec 09, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 370
This week on the show — we’re sharing with you the audio from the panel from the NYC Immersive Meetup hosted last month at Andrew Hoepfner’s GYMNOPEDIE that was moderated by NoPro’s New York Curator Allie Marotta. The panel features: Alex Chmaj - co-owner of Future Proof Evan Neiden - Candle House Collective Andrew Hoepfner - Houseworld Immersive Jessica Creane - IKantKoan Risa Puno - Installation Artist, creator of The Privilege of Escape This is a frank conversation about the impact of the pan...
Dec 02, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Season 1Ep. 369
This week on the show — we’re taking a quick trip through the 2022 NoPro Gift Guide with No Pro East Coast Editor at large Blake Weil. Blake and I have pulled seven items from the Gift Guide to talk about including video games, boxed experiences, and live events you should definitely treat you and yours to. Show Notes The 2022 NoPro Gift Guide Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 23, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 368
First up, Scarlett Kim , Associate Artistic Director of Innovation and Strategy, of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival joins us to talk about the QUILLS FEST — where immersive tech and live performance come out to play — which is running now until the end of the month. We dive into why one of the United States' best known theatre companies is commissioning XR performance works. (5:45) Then Greg Lombardo , Vice President and Head of Experiences at the one and only NETFLIX , stops by to talk about ju...
Nov 18, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 367
This week on the show — Felix Barrett, the Artistic Director of Punchdrunk is here to talk about The Burnt City — currently playing in London — but that’s not all. We get into the state of the London immersive scene, LARPS, Punchdrunk’s own experiments with immersive gaming, that time they created a DOCTOR WHO event for school kids, video games, and the origins of Punchdrunk itself. I tell you straight - I was nervous as heck going into this and I shouldn’t have been. Not only is this the bigges...
Nov 11, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 366
Jeb Terry, the CEO of Cosm – a new company with surprisingly deep roots – joins host Noah Nelson to talk about their plans for bringing large scale immersive experiences, powered by dome projection tech, first to their flagship location being built in LA's Hollywood Park and then beyond. Thing is, the company has the tech stack to back it up, being the technology providers for some of the biggest planetariums in the world. And then there's the sports angle: with the company planning to leverage ...
Oct 28, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 365
40 Watts From Nowhere , an experiential documentary from Mister & Mischief ( Escape From Godot , The Builder & The Dove ) was the absolute highlight of this year's Without Walls festival in San Diego for the NoPro team. Now creators Andy & Jeff Crocker are bringing the show, which puts audience members into the shoes of Sue Carpenter the real-life proprietor of pirate radio station KBLT in the Silver Lake neighborhood of LA, to the place where the story actually took place. Strap you...
Oct 21, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Season 1Ep. 364
This week on the show — we’ve gathered together a journalists roundtable to talk about this week’s Meta Connect event — and specifically the keynote address that introduced the Quest Pro headset. Joining are Scott Stein of CNET — who had some serious hands on time with the new device — Todd Martens of the LA Times, who covers games and themed entertainment for LA’s daily newspaper, and the one and only Kent Bye of the Voices of VR Podcast — making this episode a crossover pod! Show Notes Scott S...
Oct 14, 2022•1 hr 28 min•Season 1Ep. 363
This week on the show — it’s a two-hander as Los Angeles Reviews Editor and Review Crew captain Kevin Gossett and host Noah Nelson trade notes on LA’s Spooky Season so far — covering Universal Halloween Horror Nights , Knott’s Scary Farm , the Haunted Hayride and a few asides along with shop talk about what makes these things click for both aficionados and the more causal spooky season goers. SHOW NOTES Disney signs deal with Lighthouse Immersive (Toronto Star) Denver Immersive Gathering Hosted ...
Oct 07, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 362
This week on the show — we chat with members of the creative team of Nightfall at Old Tucson — Erik Blair and Michael Thomas-Visgar – about how they’re transforming the classic haunted amusement park attraction into an immersive playground this year. Then Justin Fix of JFI Productions swings by to talk The Willows , which is returning to LA with its first Spooky Season edition, and we do what Justin and I always do: start talking the business of immersive. Show Notes NYC Immersive Meetup RSVP De...
Sep 30, 2022•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 361
This week on the show — Yannick Trapman-O’Brien, creator of the beloved TELELIBRARY is here to talk about the TWO shows he has in the Philadelphia Fringe Festival — Fair Trade , a collaboration with Jessica Creane, and Undersigned — which is also making its way to New York City soon. [8:25] Then David Thomas will be here to help us take a deep dive into The DIG — The Denver Immersive Gathering — as we announce the full schedule for this next great gathering of the immersive creative community th...
Sep 23, 2022•1 hr 36 min•Season 1Ep. 360
This week on the show — choreographer and creator Koryn Wicks is here to talk about the upcoming run of her show CASTING , a surreal, satirical take on the casting process that is having its first public run this month at Thymele Arts in Los Angeles after emerging as the winner of the 2019 LA Immersive Invitational, and in classic NoPro form we get into some theory while we’re at it. [5:00] Then Walter Magnuson , General Manager of Winchester Mystery House is here to tell us all about UNHINGED: ...
Sep 16, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 359
This week on the show — Andrew Scoville, the director of THEATER OF THE MIND , from creators David Byrne & Mala Gaonkar, which opens next week in Denver under the auspices of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ Off-Center program is here to talk about the show, and our Venice Immersive coverage continues [27:20] with Céline Tricart, creator of the VR experience FIGHT BACK , which explores the issue of gender based violence and gives participants a taste of the self defense techniques ...
Sep 09, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 358
We kick things off this week with the creative duo Lola Tango , that's Jessica Kantor & Eve Weston, whose latest work is the exhibit Be Water My Friend which explores the life and mind of martial arts superstar Bruce Lee, currently on display at Seattle's Wing Luke museum. Then NoPro's Patrick McLean stops by for a long chat with host Noah Nelson about what they've been playing, together and separately, in VR of late. That would be Walkabout Mini Golf's Labyrinth expansion (based on the Jim ...
Sep 02, 2022•1 hr 40 min•Season 1Ep. 357
Our annual check-in on the Venice Immersive part of the Venice International Film Festival means we get to talk with Liz Rosenthal and Michel Reilhac once more, and there's a LOT to unpack with 43 projects from 19 Countries and 32 VRChat worlds in the mix. Then we settle in for a chat with Eric Kohn of Indiewire who had a banger of a column last week " Embrace the Metaverse! Only, Please, Ignore Mark Zuckerberg’s Version of It ," where he laid out a case that the metaverse is going to be to the ...
Aug 26, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 356
This week: another double header — we start with Keith Tralins and Kyle Prestenback of Hunt A Killer who stop by to talk about the mystery company’s extensive line up of boxed experiences, and the live action origins — and future — of the company. [2:50] Then returning to the pod is one of our favorite people to talk immersive with designer and director David Ruzicka, whose latest work was experienced by those lucky enough to attend HBO’s House of the Dragons activation produced by Giant Spoon a...
Aug 19, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 355
