This week on the show we’ve got another double header.

First up, Jake Pinholster the Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Creative Producer & Director Scarlett Kim — the producers of Worlds in Play, join us to talk about the upcoming gathering of play practitioners—game and theatre artists alike— which is coming to Monticello, Illinois this August.

Then joining us is Prescott Gadd, creator of Spies Among Us, a mystery adventure that takes plaes on weekends in DTLA’s Little Tokyo neighborhood — and for that interview we’ll be joined by No Pro’s own Kathryn Yu.

SHOW NOTES

• Worlds In Play
• Spies Among Us
• The Next Stage Immersive Summit
• Next Stage: Intensive Schedule
• Next Stage: Speakers & Guests

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This week on the show we’ve got an extra-long double header with some real clarity of purpose as we take a look at IMMERSIVE inside Theme Parks.

First up, Mike Ostrom, Manager of Entertainment and Events for Six Flags Magic Mountain and WOW! Entertainment Inc’s Mark Brymer join me to spill the details on DC Heroes & Villains Festival - an immersive theatrical takeover of and Six Flags Magic Mountain and Six Flags Great Adventure this summer which kicks off at Magic Mountain in Southern California later this month, with a Grand Opening on June 21st and will hold its grand opening at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ on Aug 8th.

Then we have an all-star AFTER DARK with CNET’s Scott Stein, Overlook Film Festival’s Landon Zakheim, and NoPro’s Kathryn Yu and Parker Sela as we gather together to talk about Scott & Landon’s time at Universal’s Epic Universe, Kathryn, Parker, Landon, and Noah's time at Universal Fan Fest Nights, and the state of immersive — especially LIVE PERFORMER DRIVEN IMMERSIVE — in theme parks in 2025.

• DC Heroes & Villains Festival - Six Flags Magic Mountain
• DC Heroes & Villains Festival - Six Flag Great Adventure
• Wow! Entertainment Inc.
• Scott Stein @ CNET
• Overlook Film Festival
• The Next Stage Immersive Summit
• Miami Immersive Intensive

Today on the show we’re talking about this year’s Tribeca Immersive offering at the Tribeca Festival which is currently running in New York City.

This year the lineup has come together thanks to a unique partnership between Tribeca, Onassis ONX, and Agog: The Immersive Media Institute. To tell us how that all came together we’ll be joined this week by Casey Baltes, VP Tribeca Games & Immersive; Jazia Hammoudi, Program Director at Onassis ONX; and returning to the show is Chip Giller co-founder and Executive Director of Agog: The Immersive Media Institute.

• Tribeca Immersive
• Agog: The Immersive Media Institute
• Onassis ONX
• The Next Stage Immersive Summit

This week on the show we go into the field for a visit to Sypher Arts Studio where Labyrinth Masquerade founder Shawn Strider and producer Jacquie Adorni give us a tour of the treasure trove of costumes that make up the living tapestry that is the Labyrinth Masquerade — the Twenty Seventh edition of which will take place this coming August 15th & 16th at the Historic Biltmore in Downtown Los Angeles.

The Masquerade hosts thousands of guests each year, with many cosplayers and costumers going all out to create elaborate characters. The Labyrinth Masquerade is the place to see and be seen whether you are a Sylph from an airy dimension never visited by humans, or a hapless mortal wisked away from their prom night by a mischievous sprite. To get a sense of how hard folks go check the Photo Gallery in Show Notes below.

SHOW NOTES

• Labyrinth Masquerade
• Labyrinth Masquerade Photo Gallery
• The Next Stage Immersive Summit
• The Matrix in Shared Reality

Little Cinema's Jay Rinsky joins us to talk about his most ambitious project yet: bringing The Matrix — the 1999 blockbuster that defined action movies for a generation — to Cosm’s titanic video domes. In classic Little CInema style they’re using theatrical techniques to bring the world of The Matrix outside the film frame and onto the wrap around canvas of Cosm’s big screens.

• The Matrix in Shared Reality
• The Next Stage Immersive Summit

This week on the show we are joined by Katy Naylor of Voidspace to talk about Voidspace Live, the interactive arts festival which is coming up in London June 7th & 8th and which is featuring a wonderful cross section of London’s always bubbling immersive & experiential scene.

• Voidspace Live
• The Next Stage Immersive Summit
• NoPro Backer Focus Group (Round One - Pillar of the Community Tier & Above)

We wrap up our Detor into Andor: A Star Wars Story's second series with one more trip along the Rimma Trade Route to talk with Jay Bushman about the final arc – ever – of the series which pushed Star Wars storytelling in bold new directions.

Spoilers Abound.

SHOW NOTES

Night Drive - Synthwave Cyberpunk by Elysium Sound

This week on the show we are joined by Donna Personna & Mark Nassar two of the three writers — along with Collette LeGrande — of The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot which has returned to San Francisco’s Tenderloin after a successful run in 2018. The immersive, interactive play brings to life the 1966 uprising in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district that was one of the first acts of organized LGBTQ+ resistance in the United States pre-dating the Stonewall Riots by three years.

Donna beings her real life experience of being part of the Tenderloin’s LGBTQ+ community at the time of riot, and her years as an advocate for transgender rights to the story while Mark brings a career that includes being one of the creators of the long standing interactive theatre hit Tony & Tina’s Wedding to bear on bringing this moment of sometimes hidden San Francisco history to life.

SHOW NOTES

• The Compton’s Cafeteria Riot
• Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria
• Donna
• The Next Stage Immersive Summit