Our immersive journey continues onward
It’s been a busy week, hasn’t it? Vault Festival is on in London; and Sundance’s New Frontier program has kicked off in Park City just as Fable Studios announced their rebrand and new focus on “virtual beings.” 29Rooms will have a huge expansion over the next 18 months. And tech giant Google has released a virtual reality version of Hamlet created with the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company.
Here at NoPro, we’re looking at shows coming up on the horizon in February and March as we continue to publish reviews from New York City to Los Angeles to London and more. And we were lucky enough to speak to Josephine Machon and Peter Higgin about the new Punchdrunk Encyclopaedia this week. Plus, the Immersive Design Summit and No Proscenium has launched a worldwide immersive creators survey!
More on all that, below.
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IMMERSIVE DESIGN SUMMIT NEWS
Calling all creators: the Immersive Design Summit is commissioning a state of the industry survey. We’re inviting ALL immersive creators around the world to add to the data that we’re gathering with the hope we can all get a clearer picture of the scope and scale of the work being made around the globe.
You’ll find some probing questions in here, but we ask that you only share what you’re comfortable with. Individual responses will be anonymized and can answer anonymously, too, if you wish.
Our colleague Ricky Brigante — the former publisher of Inside The Magic, who has covered the theme park industry for years — will be authoring this industry report.
Results will be aggregated and available publicly in late February, in addition to being presented at the Summit event. We know that a report based in part on solid data will be a boon to those applying for grants, talking to investors, and speaking up at city council meetings.
Please add your voices and share with your colleagues and other creators!
ON THE PODCAST THIS WEEK
A somber lead topic this week, as we talk about the escape room fire in Poland that left five teenage girls dead earlier this month with our collegues from Room Escape Artist: David & Lisa Spira.
That plus notes on their upcoming tours, the immersive Industry Survey we’re compiling for an upcoming Industry Report to be released for free during the Immersive Design Summit, and a bit about a special moment at a recent event in LA.
NYC: SAVE THE DATE!
No Proscenium/Room Escape Artist/Everything Immersive Meetup
When: February 11, 2019, 6pm
Where: Shades of Green Pub, 125 E 15th St, New York, NY 10003
Price: Free
Tags: #meetup
This event is for those interested in, passionate about, or working within immersive arts & entertainment in New York City. We’re calling all creators, storytellers, directors, engineers, artists, designers, writers, performers, event planners, producers, and more.
If you want to meet other passionate souls and exchange ideas about the future of entertainment and storytelling, join us.
We’ll be in the back room of the Shades of Green Pub!
PER VENUE REQUEST: NO MORE THAN TWO CHECKS PER TABLE, PLEASE. Please Venmo/PayPal/Cash App each other!
FROM THE WIRE: SHOWS, EVENTS, & EXPERIENCES
Austin: Passport to Iron City
Bryn Mawr, PA: Dragon Thrones 4
DC: Ourorboros: Dawn of the Cabaret
LA: The Kansas Collection Chp. 9 — The Storm; The Kansas Collection Chp. 8 — The Slippers; Mr. Crow; Delusion: The Blue Blade, Director’s Cut; Passport to Iron City
Montreal: Echo: The Sound of Space (Extension)
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NYC: No Proscenium/Room Escape Artist/Everything Immersive Meetup; Uh…Om; Passport to Iron City
Toronto: Kiss of the Spider Woman
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Submit your show to us here or at pitches@noproscenium.com.
REVIEWS
From No Proscenium:
Dance, Drink, and Fall In and Out of Love in ‘Duet-ed’ (Review)A series of one-on-one performances prompts us to reflect on the nature of intimacynoproscenium.comPlay in the Spaces In-Between in ‘LMNL’ (The NoPro Review)Onedome’s newest exhibition in SF is a technological playground for all agesnoproscenium.comThat Time You Didn’t Skip Your Reunion: ‘Welcome Back, Woodchucks’ (The NoPro Review)It’s a night of improv and interactive dram-ah in LA.noproscenium.comImmersive ‘CAMPFIRE’ Goes Up in Smoke (The NoPro Review)The dance-theatre piece doesn’t to add up to more than the sum of its partsnoproscenium.comCakes, Ale, and Joyful Chaos at ‘Twelfth Night’ (Review)The Rude Grooms bring Shakespeare to life in Queensnoproscenium.comNot Exactly Brain Surgery, Is It? — ‘Neural Enhancement with Dr. Leon’ (The NoPro Review)A different kind of theatrical experiment blends elements of ASMR with the aesthetic of wellness in Londonnoproscenium.com
From David & Lisa Spira of Room Escape Artist:
“This was a really impressive recreation of the Oval Office in Cincinnati:”
STORIES
From NoProscenium.com and our Twitter feed:
Inside the World of Punchdrunk with ‘The Punchdrunk Encyclopaedia’ (Q&A)An interview with co-authors Josephine Machon and Peter Higginnoproscenium.comHow Nourishment Feeds the Senses While Tackling Big Questions (Q&A)An interview with creator and choreographer Gwendolyn Gussmannoproscenium.comDreamscape Immersive is bringing VR to the massesThe company's new installation in a Los Angeles shopping center lets audiences take a trip to an ancient temple or the…www.theverge.comFable Announces 'Virtual Beings' Conference And NLP Conversational VR Experience With LucyIn just a year's time, Fable has made major waves in the XR community -- debuting the first chapter of Wolves in the…www.forbes.comVoices of VR PodcastImmersive theater is on a collision course with virtual reality. There are so many best practices for interactive…voicesofvr.com29Rooms Is Expanding Internationally Under New Partnership With IMG29Rooms, the Instagram-friendly, advertising-supported traveling installation from Refinery29, is expanding…www.adweek.comLeap Motion Reveals Updated Project North Star AR Prototype DesignLast year Leap Motion, makers of hand-tracking technology, revealed Project North Star, an open-source AR headset…www.roadtovr.com'Hamlet' in Virtual Reality Casts the Viewer in the PlayHamlet is in a bathtub with water up to his neck delivering "To be, or not to be." Look to your right and you'll see…www.nytimes.comSundance's New Frontier will make VR and AR go epic. And weirdThis year's New Frontier program at is getting back to its roots. The film festival's high-tech art showcase is going…www.cnet.com
From David & Lisa Spira of Room Escape Artist:
“We wanted to take a moment to point out a number of escape rooms that we played in 2018 that did something truly innovative to push the escape room format in a different direction:”
From Kellian Adams Pletcher, Green Door Labs:
“The Carnivale is coming to town! On March 7th, Incantrix productions will bring their immersive, LARP-y Puzzly underworld to the Oberon in Harvard Square.”
“Yesterday, Gamasutra had a 2012 flashback to this talk about Shadow Cities and the future of Location. I was curious about whether this talk was still compelling 6 years later. I think now location-based games have more in common with immersive theater than video games — and I think we’re realizing that some of the best location-based experiences don’t need to rely on a lot of tech. (In fact… the tech hasn’t really improved much since 2012.) I think of Her Long Black Hair and escape rooms… which were barely on the radar back in 2012.”
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