We’re one month in to 2026, and the year has already proven to be shockingly busy if our publishing cycle is any evidence… and it only looks to be getting even busier with work at every scale around the globe.
The NoPro Review Crew has assembled this list of our TEN Most Anticipated New Works of 2026, along with a look at our Returning Faves & Fests.
This year’s Most Anticipated have a a few returns of its own, with old favorites long gone finding new homes and beloved artists making new surprising work. The ten are filled with big swings, swan songs, and debuts that have a lot riding on them.
Denver represents the hardest, with two new shows and one show developed in Denver making its premiere in another city, reflecting just how much of an impact that city’s scene has had on the immersive ecosystem over the past decade. LA, London, and Shanghai are not to be left out of the mix, and the map is covered in new and returning work!
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MOST ANTICIPATED
Arcane: Battle of Two Cities — Shanghai, China
Riot Games, Tencent, SMG Live, Wajijiwa, and Punchdrunk
March 2026; Previewed Jan 2026
Hot ticket alert: Riot Games, Punchdrunk, and a host of other partners have teamed up to bring a live action, immersive, musical production based upon the award-winning show Arcane. This animated series on Netflix is also based in the world of Riot Games’ League of Legends (LoL), one of the most popular and influential video games of all time (and conveniently owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent). The LoL IP is so popular that tickets to previews for the new immersive show sold out in under a minute on WeChat in January. Could Arcane be Punchdrunk’s biggest hit yet? We’re eagerly awaiting reports back from Piltover and Zuan.
The Case of the Curiously Quiet Theatre — At-Home
Bluefish Games
Shipping March 31, 2026
Our own Patrick McLean LOVED the first Ells and Ernie Mystery experience from Bluefish games and is looking forward to the sequel that finds the detectives “embroiled in a mystery amidst special effects, costumes, and shady characters. While attending the hottest play in town, Ells and Ernie discover that someone is interfering with the production in a most nefarious way.”
Cryptic – Denver, CO
OddKnock Productions & Fictive
Spring 2026
Our own Danielle Riha got a preview of the rig powering this production from Denver’s homegown combo of OddKnock Productions and technologist & artist Cody Borst’s Fictive and says that “it’s VERY cool - some of the most immersive use of projection mapping I’ve ever seen.” Borst and OddKnock have worked together before (he made the 80’s computers interactive, responsive and in-world for From On High) but this project takes their collaboration to a new level in Denver’s RiNo neighborhood with Cryptic, an experimental pop-up that blends OddKnock’s performer-driven immersive theater with Borst’s work which has been featured across Meow Wolf, award-winning escape rooms, and large-scale installations.
Dance Nation — Toronto, Canada
Outside the March
April 2026
The Toronto premiere of Clare Barron‘s Pulitzer-nominated script. DANCE NATION will take over Coal Mine's entire venue, from the main theatre downstairs to The Vault upstairs and everywhere in between. This is the most ambitious project to date of the Outfit the March program, which, through the acquisition of inventory and equipment, aims to enable creatives to activate non-traditional spaces.
Madness: 1897 and Heresy: 1917 — Charlotte, NC
Doors of Divergence
March 6, 2026
Rejoice lovers of puzzles and lovers of live actors! You read that right: Doors of Divergence’s two award-winning, immersive theatre-escape room hybrids — Madness: 1897 and Heresy: 1917 — have found a brand new home in Charlotte, North Carolina. The creators say they’re keeping both experiences 90% intact while making improvements and revisions at the same time. And, yes, both games remain replayable, with the choices players make in Heresy affecting what happens next in Madness. Tickets are on sale now.
Meow Wolf Los Angeles — Los Angeles, CA
Meow Wolf
Late 2026
A dimensional rift has opened up in a decommissioned movie theater at The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center close to LAX… a sentence which makes sense if you really think about it… and Meow Wolf has dispatched a highly weird team of dimensional science artists to make a kind of sense of what is coming though from the other side of the portal. This latest exhibition will draw on LA’s role as the entertainment capital of the world, and Meow Wolf’s decade-plus knowledge of how to make the strange into the joyous. And at least now there’s a reason to head towards LAX now that Randy’s Donuts is everywhere in town.
Midnight’s Dream – Denver, CO
Denver Immersive Repertory Theater
Spring 2026
Denver Immersive Repertory Theater has been in development for a few years now in the Mile High City, and is announcing their presences with a sandbox take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream that’s set to fill the company’s 10,000-square-foot, two-level space.
Polygon Live LDN - London, UK
Polygon Live Limited
September 2026
2025’s Polygon Live LDN was one of the first large-scale outdoor music festivals specifically centered on spatial audio, and they’re bringing it back again in September 2026. It featured two hemispherical domes with nearly 100 speakers each, for a full 360° immersive sound experience. Artists like Jon Hopkins, Max Cooper, Tinariwen, and Nitin Sawhney performed specially crafted spatial sets. The centerpiece dome was 80 feet diameter and 30 feet high, with a capacity of 5,000 people. Catch the festival again in 2026 to see the latest in what’s possible in immersive audio.
Theater of the Mind — Chicago, IL
David Byrne & Mala Gaonkar
March 11, 2026
As part of the Goodman Theatre’s 2025-2026 program, David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar’s Theater of the Mind will be remounted in Downtown Chicago after previously playing in Denver. Directed by Andrew Scoville (Here Lies Love, Money Heist: The Experience), this guided immersive experience will take groups of 16 guests at a time on a journey through perception, memory, and more. Sadly, this will also be the final originally developed project for the Denver Center for Performing Arts’ Off-Center program, which was sunsetted last year as the performing arts center reset its strategy.
Universal Fan Fest Nights — Hollywood, CA
Universal Studios Hollywood
April - May 2026
Zoinks! After a surprising debut with the 2025 event, which featured a “Why is this so good?” Back to the Future immersive theatre bit on the Universal back lot, the Universal Fan Fest is returning this Spring with both returning elements like the Dungeons & Dragons experience and all new attractions for Super Mario World and even a Scooby-Doo x Universal Monsters experience on the backlot. Ruh-roh! I wonder if those “monsters” are really greedy real estate developers who are trying to knock down the old backlot to make way for luxury condos?
Returning Faves & Fests
Listed Chronologically, as best as we can assess.
Brassroots District ’74—Los Angeles, CA
February 6, 2026
A new edition of the hit show from the summer of 2021 goes indoors and gets a rework. We’ll know just how different the new version is when it opens this month.
Lonely Hops — Chicago
Birch House
February 13-22, 2026
It’s simply not Valentine’s Day in Chicago without Birch House, and this years edition of the Lonely Hearts cycle looks like it has puppets!
Intercon X — Warwick, RI
February
The multi-genre live-action role-playing convention continues its decades long tradition of bringing inventive larpwrights and the gamest of game players together.
Neotropolis — Mojave Desert, CA
April
The cyberpunk festival with its own interactive narrative layer returns and will likely be bigger than ever.
Without Walls Festival — San Diego
La Jolla Playhouse
April
The most significant non-traditional venue performing arts festival on the West Coast, if not the whole U.S., is FREE for the vast majority of events draws an international pool of talent.
Death of Rasputin (Remount) — New York City, NY
Artemis is Burning
“Early” 2026
After a successful stint on Governor’s Island last Spring, a Halloween pop-up, and a trip to the saunas this Winter, the Artemis is Burning team have promised to bring their satirical, immersive take on 1916 Petrograd back sometime in early 2026.
Los Angeles Immersive Invitational
After Hours Theatre Company/The Immersive Experience Institute
May
A new invitational is coming, with this year’s LA edition promising to be a more intimate affair. But it’s not the only one in the works. Keep your eyes peeled for more from the series that celebrates the form while incubating the next wave of projects.
Ghost Town Alive — Buena Park, CA
Knott's Berry Farm
June
Every summer Knott’s Berry Farm takes the oldest part of their park and turns it into a living, breathing world of train robbers, star-crossed lovers, and other fun Western tropes enjoyable by kids of all ages. There’s a reason this is beloved by immersive fans and creators alike.
Voidspace Live – London
June
The annual festival of short form interactive experimental works returns, and the open call for contributors is active.
Electric Forest — Rothbury, MI
June
The jam band fest that takes over the Double JJ Resort every June has become an exemplar of interactive entertainment, with installations and experiences from some of the most accomplished members of the immersive creative scene.
San Diego Comic Con Activations — San Diego
July
Every July the studios and streamers break out their marketing budgets to impress the tastemakers of the nerd world by setting up often elaborate pop-ups to showcase their latest offerings. These experiences are often created and staffed by the creative teams of some of the most beloved SoCal indie immersive experiences.
Discover the latest immersive events, festivals, workshops, and more at our new site EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE, home of NoPro’s show listings.
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