Every year the La Jolla Playhouse presents the Without Walls Festival, the most significant non-traditional staging theatre festival on the West Coast, if not the whole of the United States, and every year No Proscenium is there.

(Disclosure: we have a long standing relationship with the Festival now, but the Festival has no editorial input whatsoever.)

Previous years have seen works from Chalk Rep, the out-of-town premier of the original Brassroots District production, multiple pieces from Mister & Mischief, stunning works from David I. Reynoso of Optika Moderna, and more international pieces than you can shake a 747 at. (Though those who remember the Liberty Station editions of the festival know the planes tried.)

WOW remains a key point in the immersive calendar each year, both introducing new works to the ecosystem and giving a home to well traveled works that have yet to make it to California. This year’s lineup is a heady mix of both, with all new works that are poised to make a splash on the festival circuit and long anticipated arrivals we’ve been reading about all year.

This diary represents our realtime-ish responses to this year’s festival offerings.

Friday, April 24, 2026

First Up: Handle With Care – Ontroerend Goed

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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In addition to the No Proscenium website and our podcast, and you can find NoPro on Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and in the Facebook community also named Everything Immersive.