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A Dozen Delightful Immersive Options (12 Listings)

This week we are in NYC, SF, LA and Montréal, and a third of our listings are for things At Home. (Twelve Listings)

Noah Nelson

• 10 min read
A Dozen Delightful Immersive Options (12 Listings)

2024 #45

Here's an exciting thing: one of the actual highlights of lockdown – Headlock Escape Rooms' The Keeper and the Fungus Among Us and its prequel Rise of the Fungi are back for a limited run. You'll find the listings below.

It's a fun little holiday gift for those who want to get cozy at home and still go on an adventure.

This week is a real grab-bag of work, showcasing the breadth of what we cover here at NoPro.

The Next Stage: Hit The Hyperdrive

Electric Forest Creative Director Nova Han and her collaborators Suzanne Down (Cirque Berzerk) and Juliana Moreno & Ariel Rubin (Wild Optimists) will be joining The Next Stage Immersive Summit for a session where our 3-Day Intensive badge holders will learn the insights they’ve gleaned from inviting tens of thousands of Electric Forest-goers to explore an immersive universe of interactive art, theatre, and games, summer after summer, with everything from interactive puzzle quests to experiential playgrounds with live performers.

There are more announcements coming this week, follow The Immersive Experience Institute on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook to keep up with the latest. Or you can sign up for The Institute's newsletter.

3-Day Intensive badges, and 2-Day Spotlight badges are now on sale, and (as usual) the folks buying badges are as interesting as the folks who are speaking.

Who will YOU meet at The Next Stage January 17-19 in Pasadena?

12 Listings. I Already Did The Clever Part In the Headline

This week we are in NYC, SF, LA and Montréal, and a third of our listings are for things At Home.

IN THIS ISSUE

ON THE SITE & PODCAST

This Week on the Site:

The podcast

NoPro Goes Pro

We wouldn't be here without our Patreon backers, who make everything we do possible. We're on a campaign to make expand NoPro and make it sustainable.

This week we are welcoming Joni Chan into the fold, putting us just $570 away from our next milestone of $4000 a month in pledges.

The sustaining backers of No Proscenium are:

Sydney Guillory, Samuel Mustri, Lonnie Hanzon, Jerome Joseph Gentes, Tome Wilson, Ryan, Erin Reilly, Chris Wollman, Samantha Davison, Jay Bushman, Cameo Wood, Richard Ayers, Daryle, Lekker Lecool, Elaine, After Hours Theatre Company, The Ministry of Peculiarities, Kurt Collins, Anonymous, and Yan Budman.

SPOTLIGHT: NYC

PRISONCORE!

Lucky is starting his job as a guard at a new innovative prison. Rain is continuing her job as a dealer for a popular online casino. In a moment of indifferent cruelty, the two lives intersect and discover what it means to fight for freedom — and who gets sacrificed along the way.

multimedia, experimental; 18+, Brooklyn, $25, Jan 2 - 4

To Bridge Ten Millennia

To Bridge Ten Millennia is a multimedia performance installation, based on the proposal of an "Atomic Priesthood” which creates artificial "ritual-and-legend" in order to steer future generations away from hazardous nuclear sites.​

installation, performance; 13+, Brooklyn, $28.52, Jan. 16 - 18

Braiding Water

Braiding Water is a tender exploration of grief and a reimagining of mourning practices for unnamed losses and the dead who could not be honored.

"Drawing loosely on historical tragedies in China from the 1950s to the present, I trace the experiences of loss and silence across four generations in my family through this solo performance. Merging technology with Traditional Chinese Massage therapy, I delve into the somatic relics of grief, seeking to understand the rituals and physical actions that accompany emotional processing.​"

ritual, installation; 16+, Brooklyn, $25, Jan 17 & 18

The Exponential Fest Presents: Lal Ensari, Kenneth Keng & Sophie Zmorrod

Three incredible artists present three unique short pieces on a split bill.

LAL ENSARI: winter solstice is a site-specific gathering that aims to bring some lightness, joy and celebration into the darkness of winter.​

KENNETH KENG: AMA is Ask Me Anything but it's my grandma asking and the audience answering and also she’s dying and also my country is about to be invaded for the second time this century.​

SOPHIE ZMORROD: In the final act of Giuseppe Verdi’s acclaimed opera Rigoletto, Gilda waits inside of a body bag onstage for her cue to die. She has some time to think about her life choices.​

ritual, site-specific; 18+, Brooklyn, Jan 17 - 19

SPOTLIGHT: SAN FRANCISCO

Haunted Toys of Christmas

Step into an exclusive, immersive adventure that only the bravest dare to face—just 8 tickets per show for a one-of-a-kind, interactive experience you’ll never forget.

Join us for a delightfully chilling holiday event where haunted toys and ghostly dolls are the life of the tea party. Experience the spirit of Christmas like never before, with eerie tales, interactive surprises, and festive frights that will make your holidays unforgettable.

comedy, horror, holiday; 13+ $104, Dec. 8 - 28

SPOTLIGHT: LOS ANGELES

Cthulhu Christmas

Does it feel like maybe the world is going a little insane lately? Does it feel like maybe there are sinister forces reaching out to consume the world as we know it? Literati Events is excited to announce their inaugural event “Cthulhu Christmas” at the Santa Monica Bay Woman’s Club on December 21, 2024 from 9:00PM to 1:00AM. This foray into the mind of HP Lovecraft will be a night full of incredible performances, live music, and macabre vendors all to celebrate the unique madness of this world.

nightlife, horror; 18+, Santa Monica, $60, Dec. 21

Hollywood Mystery Tour

Explore the Walk of Fame. Discover iconic movie history. Solve a mystery.

Congratulations! You made it to Hollywood. It's 1927, and you just hopped off the bus. The boulevard is bustling with movie magic.​

There's just one small problem: Who's gonna give you YOUR big break?​

Well kid, it's lucky you met me.​

site-specific, adventure; all ages, Hollywood, $11, App

SPOTLIGHT: MONTRÉAL

Coded Dreams

Coded Dreams is an immersive exhibition that encourages you to explore the frontiers of artificial intelligence (AI) and unlock the doors of the imagination through two experiences—to better understand the technologies used, which have already become part of our daily lives. You are invited to become part of the works by influencing the stories that will be unveiled to you through these experiences.

First, discover Tulpamancer, a virtual reality work that offers a unique introspection and exploration of yourself. By sharing your memories and visions of the future, you'll become the architect of an intimate encounter with Tulpa, the artificial intelligence that will walk you through your personal story.

Then continue your exploration with The Golden Key, an immersive work that reinvents folk tales thanks to artificial intelligence. Embark on a never-ending story where every choice you make influences the course of the narrative.

installation, technology, VR; 13+, C$21.50 - 30, through Jan. 12

SPOTLIGHT: AT HOME

Rise of the Fungi

The spirits of Toadstool Forest have gathered a team of protectors, or Shepherds, to protect their forest. You will guide Paxillus through this wacky realm to put a stop to the terrors that have plagued the forest.

This is a prequel to the game "The Keeper and the Fungus Among Us".

You can play these games in any order! It is just as much of a show as it is an escape game. You will tell Paxillus what to do and who to interact with. You are in charge! After you book, you will get a Zoom link that you can send to your teammates. Everything that you need for the game will be on Zoom!

REMINDER: All of the booking times are based on the UK time zone.

musical, puzzles; 16+, online, £75.00, Dec. 13 - 15

The Keeper and the Fungus Among Us

*All game times are based on UK time zone*

The Keeper has awakened. This only happens every 1,000 years when the evil Paxillus is released from his mushroom prison. Your team, The Guardians, must help our hero defeat this dreaded Mushroom King and save the people of this land.

This is an interactive adventure set completely in a miniature world. It is a mixture of an escape room, role playing game, and is as much of a game as it is an experience (also with original music and songs). We can almost guarantee that you have never played anything quite like this. This is a live hosted game with a games master that you will assist and interact with. You will simply tell them what to do and what/who to interact with.

musical, puzzles, puppets, 16+, online, £75.00, Dec. 13 - 15

The 12 Gifts of Christmas

Community and art in all forms is what we would like to give to you this holiday season. Join us from December 25 to January 6 for The 12 Gifts of Christmas. This show includes 12 unique joyful experiences as well as a final gathering that can be experienced from anywhere in the world!

holiday; all ages, online, PWYC, Dec. 25 - Jan. 5

Lost Interiors

Lost Interiors - A 20-minute VIRTUAL Poetry Art film ONLINE featuringThe Gregangelo Museum

Lose yourself in this evocative dance odyssey which journeys through several psychedelic realms in this enchanted house.

video; all ages, online, $11.00 - $31.80

SPOTLIGHT: THE XR WING

My talk on the podcast this week with Shawn Kittelsen, SVP Creative at Skydance Interactive, to talk about the new Skydance's Behemoth, carries on the momentum from the doubleheader I had last week with Batman: Arkham Shadow director Ryan Payton and friend of the show, the multi-hyphenate XR creator Alex Coulombe.

After over a decade since the Oculus Rift Kickstarter jumpstarted interested in VR again we are finally – finally – reaching the point where the dreams we had in 2012 are being realized.

What's exciting to me isn't that the tech is finally there, but that the design language – which increasingly leans into engaging the whole of the player's body – has evolved. Embodying a role is an incredible experience, as any actor can tell you, and the designs of games like Behemoth and Arkham Shadow open up that experience to those who have never walked the boards or stood on a camera mark.

Look: my degree is in theatre and these days I'm lucky enough to teach it again. That the human body and mind is capable of transforming our behavior so that our personalities slide into that of another for a short period of time is one of the most amazing things about being human. Each of us, to one degree or another, is a shapeshifter. We celebrate those who do it well, lauding them with awards and riches. Yet the ability, and thus the craft, is all of our birthright.

Now I'm not naive enough (anymore) to believe that the power of make believe is enough to set the world aright. But I know – not believe but know – that it is a prerequisite for any kind of positive change. That's why I recoil from an insistence that XR is inherently dystopic. I hold that it is far too interactive a medium to ever fully stamp out our sense of agency.

The road to a better tomorrow doesn't rely on that agency alone, but it can't happen without it. Like any medium XR can be used for propaganda and indoctrination as much as it can be used for education and liberation. Yet the more that creators lean into the affordances of the tools that let users co-create their experiences, and the more that users understand the range of agency they have – from traversal, to narrative, to emotional – that shapes the existential meaning of their own experience, the more in line we are with the truth: that each of us carries in us the potential to change the world around us.

We can't do it alone, and playing a game or posting on social media isn't making change. But it makes for one hell of a rehearsal.

See you in the funny papers...
Noah

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