The No Proscenium Podcast

Story Engineer Shawn Taylor, a founding author of www.thenerdsofcolor.org, and a founding organizer of the Black Comix Arts Festival, first hit my radar at the 2019 IDS thanks to Mikhael Tara Garver. Shawn brought a perspective that was rooted in pluralism and the power of story to move people to action... and at that moment I knew I had to get him on the show/get him back on our stage. Well, 2020 is being all 2020, so the chance to get him on the stage was taken from us for now, but we still find a way via the newly minted HERE Discord.  Post Show Notes: Recommended Reading/Viewing from Shawn Books Hero With An African Face - Clyde W. Ford Rabbit in the Face of the Moon - Alfredo Lopez Austine Oven Ready Chaos - Phil Hine Film The Last Angel of History - John Akomfrah Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's an all-Everything Immersive episode with two segments. Noah and Kathryn are in both, and for round one are joined by Ricky Brigante (Pseudonym Productions), David Spira (Room Escape Artist), and No Pro's VR correspondent Will Cherry. For round two we change teams and No Pro team members Cara Mandel and Anthony Robinson join us. It's kinda like an After Dark episode, but not. Everything is on the table this time out. Recorded in front of a "live" Discord audience. Content Advisory: cursing, and a discussion of different content delivery platforms that, indeed, mentions porn. Hey: it's the Internet. Show Notes: Now Playing: Immersive For 'Indoor Kids' Cara Mandel’s Indoor Kids Activity Guide The NoPro Slack (gateway to the HERE Discord) LEIA Relief Fund for Artists The NoPro Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A special, host only,  edition of the podcast that addresses both the postponement of the HERE Summit & Festival and our craft's ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Show notes: COVID-19 & Freelance Artists (h/t to Michael Jung for sharing on FB.) Sorry for the rambling nature, it's been a WEEK, y'all.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk with actor Katie Peabody and actor/Ceaseless Fun company member Scott Monahan about the upcoming Everyone Agrees It's About To Explode, the new immersive show from Ceaseless Fun (Agnosia, Why I Want To Fuck Ronald Regan) set inside a cell of revolutionary activists. The show opens March 12th in LA. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Film fans know the Alamo Drafthouse, the Austin theater chain which has set the bar for transforming the experience of going to the movies. For years Los Angeles anticipated the arrival of the Drafthouse, and it seems to have been well worth the wait. From rowdy screenings of CATS which have since swept the nation to full-on ARGs there's something special happening at the DTLA Drafthouse. Host Noah Nelson talks with Ash Minnick, who handles the programming inside the Video Vortex, which we've come to think of as "LA's neighborhood movie bar" on the eve of their immersive EMMA. tea party. Plus: you can check out the HERE Programming Guide. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NoPro's Executive Editor Kathryn Yu speaks to multi-hyphenate artist Jessica Creane of IKantKoan Games, the creator of immersive shows such as Chaos Theory and Know Thyself.  They discuss the collision of theatre and games, audience agency, designing for meaningful choice, what keeps her going as an artist, creating safe spaces using immersive theatre, how her work bleeds into everyday life, as well as (spoiler) the time she cut off all her hair in front of a live audience.  Catch Jessica as Dr. Genevieve Saoch in Chaos Theory at Caveat in New York City on March 5, April 2, and May 7. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NoPro's own Anthony Robinson (Survivor: Fiji) is joined by Peih-Gee Law (Survivor: China and Survivor: Cambodia) and Room Escape Artist's David Spira to talk about the 20th anniversary of the reality show, escape games, and more. Show Notes: The 2020 Immersive Design Industry Survey Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week we were fortunate enough to have two of our staff at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, exploring all the XR goodies at the New Frontier.  XR correspondent Will Cherry and our host Noah Nelson trade notes on a very exciting class of 2020. The verdict: VR storytelling is maturing rapidly alongside the tech, thanks to pieces like The Book of Distance, Scarecrow, Atomu, and All Kinds of Limbo. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Yuval Sharon, Artistic Director of The Industry and co-director of that company's upcoming opera Sweet Land, joins host Noah Nelson to talk about his approach to making opera. Yuval has created the seminal works Invisible Cities and Hopscotch here in Los Angeles, propelling the conversation about how audiences engage with opera forward and raising the bar for immersive creators of every stripe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We first met Jeff and Andy Crocker at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2018, where their piece Escape From Godot turned the festival on its ear for a whole day, only to fade into the night. Since then Escape... has popped up at Indiecade, the Denver Film Fest, and will soon be a featured selection of the HERE Summit & Festival in Pasadena this March.  Host Noah Nelson talks with Jeff & Andy, aka Mister and Mischief, and Escape... and their new work The Builder and the Dove. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.