The No Proscenium Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

This week a doubleheader:

Stephen Dobbie and Colin Nightingale of A Right/Left Project whose ORIGIN - A DEEP LISTENING EXPERIENCE is returning to London this September as part of London Design Week join us first. Stephen and Colin have been collaborators for two decades now, including their work with Punchdrunk stretching back to the early days of the storied companies. As a Right/Left Project they’re exploring new forms, iterating quickly, and have established their own signature style.

Then we check in with PostCurious’ Rita Orlov and writer Lauren Bello about how their collaborations are going, with Bello’s The Morrison Game Factory currently in print from PostCurious.

From high tech to the table top — we’ve got a wonderful spread this week for you on No Proscenium.

SHOW NOTES

• A Right/Left Project
• ORIGIN - A DEEP LISTENING EXPERIENCE
• PostCurious
• The Morrison Game Factory

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This week we’ve got a really unique edition of the podcast because a year ago I messed up!

Last August I interviewed Doug North Cook, the CEO & Creative Director at Creature a new VR video game studio & label that draws upon the team's deep roots in both video games and VR, and is using a model that means indie studios can get the benefits of working with a larger publisher without giving up control over their work.

And then I forgot to share the interview!

So we're making up for it by sharing that one and a new interview where we catch up with Doug now to talk the label's releases and the state of video games and VR gaming in what has become an inflection point of a year.

SHOW NOTES

• Creature
• Starship Home
• Thrasher
• SXSW Panel Picker: From Creator to Closer: Your Path to Greenlight

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This week:

Chip Giller and Amy Seidenwurm of AGOG: The Immersive Media Institute a new organization whose mission is to helping creators and nonprofit leaders harness the power of extended reality (XR) to imagine a better future for all.

Then we pivot from XR to IRL as Adipat Virdi, the creator of I AM OTHER — which is headed to the Edinburgh Fringe this August and has a two night stand in Canterbury this month — June 20th & 21st at the Gulbenkian Arts Center — to talk about the piece: An immersive family drama, about an older relative’s act of aggression towards a biracial child, that actively investigates white privilege, judgement, identity and bias.

SHOW NOTES

• AGOG: The Immersive Media Institute
• Award Winning ‘Body of Mine’ Drops On Meta VR Platforms
• I AM OTHER
• I AM OTHER Canterbury
• I AM OTHER Edinburgh

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This week we have a not-so-subtle theme: gaming outside the home.

When that's your theme there's no one better to kick things off with than Kevin Williams of Spider Entertainment and The Stinger Report, the Global Amusement & Attractions news service, who shares his insight into the state of VR in the location based entertainment sector as evidenced by the arrival of Sandbox VR in London.

Then we hop the Atlantic to talk with James Cobalt about the Malden Gaming District in Malden, MA, a unique neighborhood in the Boston suburb gathers gaming experiences of all stripes into the city's historic downtown core.

SHOW NOTES

• Sandbox VR - London
• The Immersive Game Theatre
• The Immersive 5: The Light Poets
• Review Crew: Ring Ring! Phone Shows Calling!

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They're Baaaack.

The Crew – Kevin Gossett (LA Reviews Editor), Laura Hess (Arts Editor), Leah Davis (New England Curator), and Blake Weil (East Coast Editor at Large) – answer the call of three phone based shows... but first Leah travels to LA and encounters The Nest before it ends it run (1:00).

Those Phone Shows:

• I Cut Myself Shaving and I Bled So Much 11:40
• Lennox Mutual 24:55
• Our Options Have Changed 49:11

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Two great interviews this week with two luminaries of immersive.

First: writer Margaret Kerrison, whose work includes Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, joins us to talk about her new book Immersive Storytelling For Real and Imagined Worlds: A Writer's Guide. This is a must-read for everyone who makes immersive work. Period, full stop.

Then Charlie Miller, Executive Director & Curator of the Denver Center for Performing Art’s Off-Center program, stops by to talk about Off-Center's new position in the DCPA and the work they have on tap for Denver in the Fall.

Show Notes

• Margaret Kerrison, In Conversation With Nancy Seruto at Vroman's
• Theatre of the Mind
• The DIG
• Review Rundown
• Call Sheet

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We settle in for a long chat about storytelling and the art of immersion with Frank Rose, the man who literally wrote the book on the subject. Frank's latest book, 'The Sea We Swim in: How Stories Work In A Data Driven World' takes center stage and we also touch on his work with Columbia University's Digital Storytelling Lab and their annual Digital Dozen list.

Show Notes

The Art of Immersion

The Sea We Swim In

Columbia University's Digital Storytelling Lab

2022 Digital Dozen

The Denver Immersive Gathering

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This week on the show: Chris Alderson of Polyarc Games joins us to talk about the MetaQuest release of Moss: Book II and what the studio learned about creating virtual characters you can’t help but form a bond with. [6:30]

And Félix Lajeunesse of Felix & Paul Studios is here to bring us up to speed on the latest with their collaboration with NASA — the final episode Space Explorers: The ISS Experience and the upcoming Artemis mission livestream. [30:50]

All that plus HEADLINES.

SHOW NOTES

• SDCC Activations @ Everything Immersive
• Tender Claws Human Union
• Meow Wolf Workers Collective
• Communication Workers of America
• Walkabout MiniGolf VR Tour SignUp
• The Metaverse And How it Will Revolutionize Everything
• The NoPro Discord
• The Denver Immersive Gathering
• Who’s The Bossk? The Force Awakens
• NoPro Patreon

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For our 350th episode we bring on members of the Senior Staff at NoPro: Leah Davis (New England), Patrick McLean (Chicago), Blake Weil (East Coast), and Kevin Gossett to talk about the state of immersive in their neck of the woods. It's a big sprawling convo that finds us diving deep on installation art, the mainstreaming of immersive experiences, LARPing, and XR. Hosted by Noah Nelson.

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For years now, first in a backyard and then inside an early 20th century storage building, one of the most unique immersive creations in the world has been one of Los Angeles' treasures: Scout Expedition Co.'s The Nest.

Created by themed entertainment designers Jarrett Lantz and Jeff Leinenveber, The Nest has both delighted audiences and broken our hearts since it first turned up, almost like a rumor, years ago. A visit to a storage unit reveals the shape of a life, told through audio tapes (literal tapes), and interactive moments that unlock more and more of the story of a woman named Josie, whose legacy is now yours.

This special episode of the podcast, our 349th, brings Lantz and Leinenveber together with Mackenzie Firgens, the voice of Josie, and was recorded inside The Nest itself. The Thea Award-winning show will close this August. But there's still time to discover it, or revisit it, and the code NOPROPODCAST will unlock a discount for these last shows. Scout Expedition will also be offering up Behind The Scenes tours over the summer, so keep an eye out for that.

Show Notes

The Nest

Scout Expedition Co.

The DIG

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