The Spooky Season is heating up, and we’re swimming hard and fast to keep up up. Want proof? Go look at LA in the “FROM THE WIRE” section. Yeah: we in it.
But that doesn’t keep us from pushing things forward, and we’ve started a whole new series of regular columns from a rotating group of writers this week. We kicked it off with one from yours truly: “Those Who Play: Notes On Building The Immersive Audience,” and we got work from Ricky Brigante, Kathryn Yu, and more in the weeks to come. In fact we’re already seeing this kicking off some conversations, and that’s the whole point — so expect this new vein to last for a while.
For those of you in LA: we’re hosting a talk back & game night for DELUSION: ALT-DELETE on Oct. 9th, and we’ve got special discount codes for this weekend and next. Check out the details HERE.
Also: did anyone else see we got a shout-out in The Wall Street Journal this week? Totally unexpected.
Alright: let’s get to it.
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ON THE PODCAST THIS WEEK
John Henningsen, Artistic Director of LA’s Thymele Arts sits down to talk with Noah about just what the performing arts incubator in East Hollywood is, its role in the immersive world, and the future of immersive in LA.
Note: John very graciously gives us a desk in the co-working space free of charge, but that’s not why we’re talking to him. We’re talking to him because he and Thymele are an integral part of LA’s immersive scene.
FROM THE WIRE: SHOWS, EVENTS, & EXPERIENCES
NYC: Among the Cedars, What Ships Are Built For, User Not Found, Blackout,
Toronto: Masquerade | Succumb to the Eve of St. George
Chicago: Reflections on Fire: Extinguishing Old Ideas
New Orleans: Saintsbone
Scottsdale, AZ: Candytopia
Vancouver: VIFF Immersed
Seattle: Ghost Party
SF: The Gravermind Estate, The Cellar, Warriors Hooptopia
Las Vegas: Horrorwood Video,
LA: Alien Encounter Dance Experience, Indiecade & Indiecade’s Night Games, The Downton Abbey Experience, 29 Rooms — Expand Your Reality Tour, To Live and Di(n)e in LA (Two Year Anniversary), The Depraved Attic Of Dorian Gray, The Shadow Space, ALT DELETE Launch Event — Creator Talk Back & Game Night, Inferno & Burlesque, I Like Scary Movies (Redux), Terra
Anaheim: The Séance
COMMUNITY
NYC: Join Everything Immersive in New York City for a meetup on October 9. RSVP on Facebook.
LONDON: The Gunpowder Plot presents SANDBOX | Immersive Worlds and Playable Spaces on 28 & 29 September. Tickets on sale now for a weekend of panels and discussions on creating immersive worlds.
APPEARANCES
Find members of the NoPro team and Everything Immersive family in your neck of the woods
September: Ricky Brigante & Noah Nelson — VIFF Immersed
October: Kathryn Yu — Indiecade 2019
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Submit your show to us here or at pitches@noproscenium.com.
REVIEWS
From No Proscenium:
A Spiritual Awakening with ‘Reflections on Fire: Extinguishing Old Ideas’ (Review)Cabinet of Curiosity’s ritual experience provides enlightenment to its audiencenoproscenium.comTo Serve Man…Food, That Is, In ‘Open Spaces: An Art Dinner for Aliens’ (Review)A delicious dinner with strangers overshadows The Martin’s thought provoking experiencenoproscenium.comLeft in the Dark with ‘Theatre in the Dark: Carpe Diem’ (The NoPro Review)This Is Not A Theatre Company’s new blindfolded work fails to satisfynoproscenium.comAn Invitation to ‘Play!’ with This is Not a Theatre Company (The NoPro Review)TINATC stages a dance-theatre piece where interactivity ends up as an afterthoughtnoproscenium.comFeeling My Way Through ‘Virtual Reality Underwater Spa’ (Notes)While the relaxation putty gelled, but the overall themes didn’tnoproscenium.comTravel the Labyrinths of Memory in Linked Dance Theatre’s ‘Remembrance’ (The NoPro Review)An exquisite show about how Alzheimer’s affects patients and their loved onesnoproscenium.comYou Can Go Home Again: ‘#bedrUmplaII(2)’ (The NoPro Review)Out in The Valley waits a trustfall of the heartnoproscenium.com
From David & Lisa Spira of Room Escape Artist:
In Michigan, we played at The Fifth Wall Escape Rooms where The Houdini Trap told a unique story in an unusual and beautiful space. The puzzles and props were solid and engaging.
In Texas, we played at Lockout Austin where Area 51–2 had one of the most clever set ups we’ve ever seen for an escape room. It was a challenging game with some creative game design and storytelling.
STORIES
From NoProscenium.com and our Twitter feed:
From Kathryn Yu, No Proscenium:
The folks at Factory Obscura wrote a short blog post describing their work with an accessibility consulting firm, Crossing the Chasm, in Oklahoma City in advance of opening their art installation Mix-Tape.
The Guardian covered the new safety and security measures being put in place by the Guild of Misrule for their new immersive production of The Wolf of Wall Street, based upon their experiences with their previous productions like The Great Gatsby. These include “door security, personal alarm buttons, a code-word system to flag problematic audience members, CCTV cameras, plus a safeguarding, consent and inclusion coordinator”:
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From David & Lisa Spira of Room Escape Artist:
VacuForm panels are plastic wall mountings that can be purchased, painted and hung in theatrical environments. Avoid the usual pitfalls:
From Michael Andersen of ARGN:
Continuing the conversation about how to serve audiences more interested in viewing immersive experiences, this piece examines some of the tactics projects have used to capture the energy of immersive experiences in a more passive format.
Inside A Mind just released a video explaining some of the secrets behind Alex Bale’s alternate reality game Pizza Time Pizza, a comedic horror series that will be wrapping up this Halloween with its tenth video installment. Remember, Pizza Time Pizza is not a cult!
From Ricky Brigante of Pseudonym Productions:
Our newest immersive experience Dark Passage debuts in Philadelphia for the spooky season on October 4th including a pop-up bar with local bar legend Fergus Carey, as recently featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The folks behind Candytopia have partnered with the owners of the Toys ‘R’ Us brand to bring a touring immersive pop-up to cities throughout 2019 and 2020, beginning with Chicago and Atlanta, featuring photo opportunities — capitalizing on nostalgia for the recently shuttered stores.
THE DISCOURSE
Discussions and posts from Everything Immersive & Twitter:
Posted by Abel Horwitz on Everything Immersive
Enklu Launches San Francisco's First AR Maker Space - VRScoutShare TweetMemberships and day passes are now available to west coast developers and players. The city of San Francisco…l.facebook.comThe Most Seductive Theater Scene in New York Right Now, a Visitor's GuideSURE YOU'VE GOT the right address?" the cabdriver asked dubiously as we pulled up to a gloomy building on a back street…on.wsj.com
NOW FUNDING
The Story Engine
The Story Engine is a card-based storytelling prompt generator that Rock Paper Cynic cartoonist Peter Chiykowski has used to generate his postcard fiction project, The Shortest Story. Back the project at a high enough level, and you can subscribe to receive some of those story prompts in the mail as monthly postcards.
Daemonologie: Smoke & Mirrors
Boston: An immersive game theatre experience where you will decide a woman’s fate.
The Ode at Pint’s End
Chicago’s Birch House preps an immersive folk tale
CHICAGO: The Ode at Pint’s End, written by Lauren N. Fields and Janie Killips, is an epic folktale that features traditional Irish music and new music by Janie Killips.
PROFESSIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Jobs, Grants, Gigs, and more
New Haven, CT. — Escape New Haven, Game Design Lead, salaried.
i-Docs 2020 — Call for Participation
Following the success of five previous i-Docs Symposia, we are pleased to announce the call for participation for i-Docs 2020. Convened by Judith Aston, Sandra Gaudenzi, Mandy Rose and Julia Scott-Stevenson, and hosted by UWE Bristol’s Digital Cultures Research Centre, i-Docs 2020 will be held at Watershed in Bristol’s Harbourside on Wednesday to Friday 25–27 March. We invite proposals for papers, pre-constituted panels, case studies, posters and projects to showcase. In addition, this time we also want to encourage alternative and remote forms of participation — both to reduce the carbon footprint of the event and to include delegates otherwise unable to take part.
Deadline: Oct. 25, 2019
Sundance New Frontier Story Lab Applications
Deadline Oct. 1
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