Towards Tomorrow (4 Listings, Plus News & Program Notes)
This week we are in New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto. Four Listings. But it's still a BIG Newsletter billboarding WHAT'S NEXT for NoPro this Fall!
2025 #29
(Skip the Editor's Letter and get to the table of contents where new MASQUERADE tickets are waiting for you along with work in LA and Toronto and what's on the site this week. Or read on to see what's up with our Fall Programming.)
We did it. We did the thing.
The Immersive Experience Institute, cousin of NoPro, put on The Next Stage Immersive Summit at the Pasadena Playhouse last weekend and many of you were there.
I have to be honest, some days it felt like we'd never get to stand on that stage.
If you've been with us long enough you know that the calendar wasn't exactly the strong suit for The Next Stage. Circumstances beyond our control postponed the Pasadena version of the event more than once over the course of the six years we aimed to present it there.
It's not easy to talk about it without sounding flippant or dismissive when the scale of those "circumstances" meant that some people lost everything. I lost family. The whole world changed. This year members of our immediate community lost everything. Everyone's lives changed and I think we can now definitively say in the case of Covid it most certainly wasn't for the better and that the silver linings have all been traded in for tin.
Most of what we've gotten from the last six years is a lesson in endurance, and let me tell you: as a creative and professional community the immersive & experiential set hasn't just endured, we've thrived. That's not rah-rah talk. That's sly defiance. That's a reminder that you're part of something stronger than the chaos.
Here's a cold, hard fact: the live events sector is the only entertainment sector that's growing and live events are reshaping how the world travels.
Now that doesn't necessarily mean it's a clear road. In England they're doing a bit of soul searching about immersive at the moment, as the big article at The Stage this week has it (sign-in or sub required):
It is worth remembering that, in the grand scheme of theatre, immersive is still a new form and growing pains are to be expected. Challenges remain but the immersive sector is resilient and the spirit of camaraderie and collaboration pervades. “It’s tough when we’re having to reimagine the form because it’s expensive, but I think everyone’s had to reimagine their workings and rethink it,” says [Punchdrunk's Felix] Barrett. “I do feel slightly like we’re in the second phase of immersive epochs – I don’t know if the second one has begun, or whether it’s beginning this summer but definitely the first one has finished.”
I think that idea that Phase II is arriving is about right, although where we draw the lines and what's the Ur-Immersive is somewhere between an argument that happens between the classroom and the pub. It seems to me that here in the States things are just starting to THRIVE, and that's the point I make in this interview I have with USA Today's The Excerpt:
If you notice, you might see I've cut my lip shaving. Something I haven't done in 30 years. So naturally I do it the morning I have to be on camera for a video podcast.
Now you know why the NoPro Podcast Vol. I? has been Audio Only for 497 episodes.
Wait, NoPro Podcast Vol. I?
Yes, NoPro Podcast Vol. I, which has been going on for 497 numbered episodes and a whole lot of unnumbered episodes. There's actually 580 "total episodes" in the feed, when you count up all the minisodes, After Darks, Review Crews, the Andor and Ducktails detours, and maybe some drafts that didn't make it out.
A small history of the last ten years of this artistic scene that maybe, one day, we'll have the money to pay someone to properly transcribe – which would cost a pretty penny since
A) I don't trust a robot to do it.
B) Transcription is real labor and deserves to be compensated. I should know, I've had to do it. It SUCKS.
So? Vol. II?
Oh, yeah. Let's talk about what's up.
Episode 500 and Everything After
Here's the plan for the next couple of months:
We've got some great episodes lined up leading up to episode 500, which is intended to be a blowout on Labor Day weekend. They are NOT in the can – that's an old term from when recording tape was kept in cans, an era I was at the tail end of – but sessions are hitting the schedule. A mix of new guests and old friends.
We're going to have fun.
Then the PODCAST will go on hiatus, sort of, for about TWO MONTHS give or take while we retool a bunch.
There are some interesting people coming through LA, like Julia Masli, who is bringing ha ha ha ha ha ha ha to the Pasadena Playhouse and I want to catch, and who we might drop a special edition into the feed. I mean, how could we not? Also Felix is due to be in town in November. Again: if I can snag him in person: how can I not?
But after 500 mainline episodes I need to change the show.
Plus we're migrating the website from Medium over to the new edition of Ghost, which is what this newsletter is already built on, and that's a big task. That starts either this month or next.
And all of that is just NoPro stuff. There's a whole lot of planning and building off of what was just learned and the momentum from The Next Stage that the Institute team wants and needs to do, and some of that means clearing up the lanes so that what NoPro and the Institute are doing run in cleaner parallel so that there's more support and less conflation.
Just because Kathryn and I are leaders in both places doesn't make them one and the same. The ties are strong, yes, but the missions are different, and that's going to be more clear in an organic fashion as the Institute does more programming and publishing of its own. (Grab the updated version of the Industry Report if you haven't already! And sign up for their LinkedIn newsletter if you're on LinkedIn and want a business lens, you'll recognize the editors.)
Basically After Six Years Of Holding My Breath...
...and waiting to DO THE THING that I saw in my head I can finally make room for other visions and hoo-boy there are a lot of them popping in.
The good news is that they are not grand. I am not dreaming of inverting the Hollywood Bowl and making you all cluster in small groups where you have to create your own experiences and then deconstruct them for each other in real time with fully fleshed out TED Talks... uh, oh. Wait. Wait. Okay. Well... well. huh.
Look. Just. Just don't be shocked if we're at the Bowl one day.
Just remember the trick is to park at Hollywood & Highland and walk up.
But Noah, Is There A Website? A Podcast? A Newsletter?
Right. Right. Normal talk.
The newsletter: every Saturday EXCEPT Oct. 25th & Nov. 1st.
That's my annual break. This year it's a big one. The big 5.0.
The Website: we're switching platforms, hopefully that goes smoothly, but there may be glitches. (There will be glitches, always are.) The goal is to maintain the cycle of Review Rundown, Coming Soon, Now Playing, Call Sheet, and start expanding once we are on a platform WE control. So: no service interruption that isn't a technical one.
Podcast: Special episodes & news drops only until mid-Novemeber or possibly December. Which in practical terms will translate into a likley bi-weekly cadence because let's face it: we can't quit you.
If something BIG happens we will TURN ON THE MICROPHONES and talk about it. You can count on that. I just want the Pod to turn into something that draws more people into the tent, you know?
Search Everything Immersive For More
There's a whole immersive cosmos out there, we chart it for you and this is just a curated bit of it. Discover your next adventure at Everything Immersive. Search by city, artist, and genre. Updates all week long.
Connect With Us On Bluesky
If you haven't already, tap in to the independent social media ecosystem that is growing by the day, and swaps out a central algorithm for user choice and control.
Just like our website, we're NoProscenium.com there!
In This Issue
ON THE SITE & PODCAST
The Site
- In our latest COMING SOON: Sandbox Theatre Collective makes their immersive theatre debut in Chicago by adapting the Chekhov classic Three Sisters.
- Ed delivers up a review of Siobhán O’Loughlin's ‘Broken Bone Bathtub: The Documentary’ from a screening in the backyard of one of the venues where the show took place.
The Podcast
- This week on the show Franki Chan, founder and chief creative officer of IHEARTCOMIX, the award-winning creative marketing agency who joined us last weekend at The Next Stage Immersive Summit along with the team from #METAFORYOU of Terence Leclere, Dasha Kittredge, and Annie McGrath, to talk about the 2-night overnight horror horror experience at the legendary Stanley Hotel dubbed The Overnightmare is with us today to share the backstory of IHEARTCOMIX — from parties at LA’s Beauty Bar in the Aughts to becoming a record label to just last week where they took over Hurricane Harbor for Bob Odenkirk’s Nobody 2 wherein Bob… well I’ll let Franki tell that one.
We get Franki’s view on our world from his vantage point coming from the marketing world as we make our way towards the big episode 500.
The Patreon Report
This week we give thanks to Karen Rhodes, Alina Rios, Anne Lukeman, and Sara for becoming our latest Patreon backers.
And a MAJOR thanks to KJ Knies for joining the ranks of the FRIEND OF THE SHOW tier aka the SUSTAINING BACKER tier. My landlord salutes you, as do my auto insurance broker, VISA, Mastercard, LA DWP, the SBA, the IRS, ACAST, Google, Discord, Zencaster, and the fine folks at Randy's Donuts, the official donut of No Proscenium.
If you aren't a backer already, becoming a Patreon backer means we can start making progress on our long term goals.
I know things are tight for everyone, but if HALF the readership of the newsletter became backers we'd blow past our goals and could start making something REAL. And by "backers" I mean $5 a month.
The sustaining backers of No Proscenium are:
Sydney Guillory, Lonnie Hanzon, Jerome Joseph Gentes, Tome Wilson, Ryan, KJ Knies, Erin Reilly, Chris Wollman, Samantha Davison, Jay Bushman, Cameo Wood, Daryle, Lekker Lecool, Elaine, After Hours Theatre Company, The Ministry of Peculiarities, Kurt Collins, Anonymous, and Yan Budman.
SPOTLIGHT: NEW YORK CITY
More Shows Added! Tickets Available! The Talk Of The Town!
The immersive adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera has arrived.
You are graciously summoned to my night of mystery and magnificence.
You will revel in scenes enacted from my legend. You will conceal your face and dress extravagantly as befits this unique occasion.
Your obedient servant,
O.G.
immersive, processional, musical, formal attire, stilettos are forbidden;
16+, $195-225, Manhattan, currently booking through Oct. 19
It's 1915 and Anthony Patch, son of Wall Street tycoon-turned Prohibitionist Adam J. Patch, is having one last hurrah. Drink along with him as the party of the decade unfolds in real time, all right in front of your eyes.
The Broken Lute was commissioned by the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society and previously played performances in June. After a successful sold out run it was extended into August. Performances end on August 12th!
The show is performed in a real speakeasy. It's not marked or visible from the street. Follow the sign for the "Lower East Side Toy Company", go down the stairs, through the alley, and you'll soon hear the sounds of jazz.
The show features swing dancing, a jazz band, and actors all around. It takes place on multiple levels (simultaneously) and in a few secret rooms...
dance, drama, immersive, speakeasy; 21+, $30-40, Manhattan, Aug 12
SPOTLIGHT: LOS ANGELES
Escape! The Great Specific Garbage Catch
Hollywood Fringe extension. A NoPro Hollywood Fringe Pick!
In this (mostly) 1-woman show, a climate activist & performance artist called "She" draws the audience into her trashy theater world, and challenges them to imagine a better one. Through interactions with puzzles, props, plastic, politics, and prose, people will ponder upon the problem of the Pacific.
“The Great Specific Garbage Catch” by Tyler Neufeld was workshopped with Untitled Theatre Company at UCLA in 2022, and was performed again as part of the Bruin Fringe Fest in 2023. Now, the text has been stretched and reworked into an immersive escape room experience, where the audience is trapped with She on the plastic until the UN reaches their climate consensus, and until the show is over.
escape room, performance art; 13+, $10-$20, Aug. 21-28
SPOTLIGHT: TORONTO
What is The Art Rate Monitor? This first-of-its kind gallery experience measures your heart rate as you explore the AGO. With every step, you’ll get personalized insights on your visit. See which pieces captivated you, uncover patterns in your preferences, and relive the highlights of your visit that might surprise you!
After your visit, you’ll receive a free personalized report of your visit. Uncover your distinctive art persona, what artworks you spent the longest time with, your preferred colour palette, and so much more! After you see it and feel it, you can share it—let people know what art moves and represents you the most, while you learn a thing or two about yourself along the way.
Come to the gallery and understand the world—and art—in a whole new way. Let the Art Rate Monitor show you how!
biometrics; all ages, C$30 included w/gallery admission, Ongoing
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