Everything Immersive This Week (7/13/2019)
Immersive can’t catch its breath
We’re back! With another everything immersive this week, recounting all of the news in immersive-land that hit the presses since the holiday break. So what happened?
Disney announced that its second major attraction at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge “Rise of the Resistance” finally has an opening date: December 5 at Walt Disney World in Orlando and January 17 at Disneyland in Anaheim. Netflix’s Stranger Things created an alternate reality game to promote the hit show’s latest season which dropped last week. MWM Immersive’s free-roaming VR experience War Remains announced the first stop of its post-Tribeca Film Festival tour would be Austin, Texas. SIGGRAPH 2019 announced a huge slate of VR content for the conference later this summer, including Disney’s second ever VR short. And a ton of immersive activations are on the horizon for the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con.
As for NoPro, we reviewed a glowing ramen experience, a twist on Dante’s Inferno mixed with Sartre’s No Exit, and an espionage-infused production by CoLab in London. Our friends over at Pseudonym Productions were our guests on the podcast. And we did a live-streamed discussion between Noah Nelson, Anthony Robinson, Kevin Gossett, and Brian Resler about Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland on our YouTube channel. And, as usual, shows, shows, and more shows.
All that, and more, below.
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ON THE PODCAST THIS WEEK
Kathryn Yu sits down with Ricky Brigante and Sarah Elger of Pseudonym Productions who have recently moved their immersive theatre company from Orlando to Philadelphia.
The three of them have a wide-ranging conversation about Sarah’s background in architecture and theme park design and Ricky’s background in theme park journalism, the forming of their immersive theatre company, creating their first show, running an immersive theatre business in a place like Orlando, their recent experience going through the Creative Startups accelerator program, the future and impact of immersive design as a field, as well as their thoughts on Disney’s influence on immersive, including the brand new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Read Interactive, Intimate, Experimental: The Impact of Immersive Design 2019 by Ricky Brigante [PDF].
OUR GALAXY’S EDGE DISCUSSION ON YOUTUBE
Make sure to subscribe to the NoPro YouTube channel for even more upcoming livestreams!
FROM THE WIRE: SHOWS, EVENTS, & EXPERIENCES
Austin: War Remains
Baltimore: Project P.S.
Cleveland: Anywhere But Here, a solo experience
Houston: The Man From Beyond
LA: Beasts From The Sea!; The 49 Boxes — The Golden Age of Magic; Fefu and Her Friends; Nexus 2019; hell prepared; Under The Big Top — Atlas
NYC: The New York Immersive Challenge; Come Out & Play: After Dark; Chaos Theory (New Date); ZeroSpace; Marta Minujín: Menesunda Reloaded
San Diego: NBC’s Immersive Activations for San Diego Comic-Con 2019; Wonderspaces presents ‘in common’
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REVIEWS
From No Proscenium:
From David & Lisa Spira of Room Escape Artist:
“Skurrilum’s Ghost Hunter Ernie Hudson and the Wailing Woman was voted #1 in the world by escape room players in 2018. It was an incredible escape room, but it was made and maintained by humans. Go in expecting to play a great and inventive escape room, not ‘the world’s greatest escape room.’”
“Neptune’s Curse at Hidden in Hamburg was the kind of escape room that really highlights what’s fantastic about this whole form of entertainment. Hidden in Hamburg packed great, tangible puzzles into an incredible, authentic space.”
STORIES
From NoProscenium.com and our Twitter feed:
From David & Lisa Spira of Room Escape Artist:
“We answered a reader’s question: What is your opinion on real looking metal handcuffs that have a safety release?”
“Room Escape Artist is working on the 2019 industry report. Please take a look at our escape room directory and contact us any updates (new companies, closed companies, name changes, location changes, etc) in your area.”
From Kellian Adams Pletcher, Green Door Labs:
“The Night Cafe is a 1950’s beat cafe that’s all about hip cats and sleepless nights. Join us to complete puzzles and challenges, explore the Dream Corridor, meet fellow insomniacs and achieve your final goal: to fall asleep.”
“I enjoyed how the people involved in this immersive theater experience spoke about their goals, approaches, and passion for an immersive experience.”
From Laura E. Hall of Timberview Productions:
“Follow us on Instagram for updates as we fabricate our newest narrative escape room game: ”
“UK game designer Ian Thomas (@wildwinter) released an excellent write-up of the design and logistics of running a Three Musketeers LARP in which everyone gets to be the hero:”
From Kent Bye of the Voices of VR podcast:
“Creators of immersive experiences are creating cultural artifacts, and so then the question becomes about how do you cultivate a community through these elements of culture. Behavioral researcher Jessica Outlaw defines these anthropological elements of culture and how you can use them to foster community and shift culture. Important & engaging convo based upon her XR for Change talk.”
From Lance Weiler of the Columbia Digital Storytelling Lab:
“Recently the American Theatre Wing documented our work with Frankenstein AI for their Emmy nominated series ‘Working in the Theatre.’ The episode explores emergent technology within performance. The overview of Frankenstein AI comes in at 12:50.”
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