Join us for The Immersive Industry Homecoming Summit, a gathering of the immersive world, this August 29th and 30th! We'll be featuring leading creators and producers from Disney, Meow Wolf, AREA15, Broadway, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mycotoo, Lost Spirits Distillery, David Byrne's Theater of the Mind, boundary-breaking VR theatre productions, and more.
There are two ways to join: in-person or virtually. Tickets for the in-person live experience are $149 and tickets for the multi-camera livestream experience are $35. In-person guests will experience the incredible AREA15, and we recommend guests extend their stay to visit attractions like Meow Wolf's Omega Mart and Lost Spirits Distillery. Virtual guests will be a fully-fledged part of the action as well, experiencing a livestream with interactive polling and question-ranking. All ticket-holders will get access to the recordings of the event (subject to speaker review).
As safety is of the utmost importance, we will be instituting mandatory vaccine checks, mandatory masking for guests, and daily temperature checks. Please feel free to reach out with any questions about our safety policies!
Subject to slight revisions, doors will open at 11am on Sunday and Monday, with programming from 12:30pm to 6:30pm local time. Sunday features an afterparty immediately following the programming.
Stay tuned for even more speaker announcements, and we'll see you there!
Get Tickets!
In alphabetical order.
Kim has a passion for working with genius artists and engineers to create things that have never been done before. Specializing in leadership and team development on creative innovation teams, she has deep experience in the entertainment, software, and hardware industries. Before co-founding Adventure Lab, Kim led a creative team at Facebook in creating the AR “Storytime” app for Facebook’s Portal video device. She was also the Head of Production at Emmy Award-winning Oculus Story Studio, and an Executive Producer on Emmy-winning experience Wolves in the Walls. Previous to that, Kim made her transition into VR at Google Spotlight Stories, where she was a part of the leadership team and produced some of the first VR projects released world-wide; Rain or Shine with partner Nexus Productions, and Special Delivery, with Aardman Animations. From 2009-2013, Kim was a Producer at Pixar Animation Studios. There she led the creation of a new short film division, heading a team of 125 across Pixar and Pixar Canada. Partnering with eight new directors, she produced 13 Toy Story and Cars short films while shepherding the development of a multitude of additional Pixar short-format projects, including two television specials.
Michael Beneville is the creative force and visionary leader behind AREA15. Unbounded by conventional thinking, artist and designer Michael Beneville and the team at Beneville Studios bring a unique perspective and a multitude of talents to the world of traditional real estate. Fusing culture, entertainment, art, and retail, Michael brings together artists, creators, and visionaries from all over the world, and invites them to collaborate within the immersive bazaar of experiences that is AREA15.
Kiira is an award-winning, multi-dimensional director crossing the mediums of live theatre, hybrid cinema and virtual reality. For her interactive VR experience Runnin’ starring Reggie Watts, she was the first VR director to film on the Intel Studios volumetric capture stage (Sundance 2019, Jury Award for Interactive at SXSW 2019). VR productions: Loveseat, (VR Theatre - Venice Film Festival 2019) and Cardboard City (NYFF 2016). Her latest VR Theatre production Finding Pandora X featured Broadway actors and won Best VR Immersive User Experience at the Venice Film Festival 2020 and the Audience Award for the Virtual Cinema Spotlight at SXSW 2021. She is the founder of Double Eye Studios which specializes in IO VRA experiences and virtual production.
Charlie is a photographer, set designer, event curator and the Founder of The Museum For Black Girls, based in Denver, CO.. She is a power house that is committed to creating safe spaces where Black women and creatives can be elevated, seen, and where their voices can be amplified in unique ways. In 2019 she produced The Museum For Black Girls to design an immersive, interactive and educative experience that celebrated the stories and journeys of black women, and to also create collaboration opportunities for underrepresented artists in the community. This project invited guests to explore and partake in the essence, joy, inventions and achievements that not only shaped black women, but people and industries all over the world. It also challenged artists to push past their boundaries to create something magical. What was supposed to be a weekend event has now turned into a permanent, traveling experience reaching over 100,000 people. Charlie is honored to join The Epic Immersive homecoming summit this year to talk about the work MFBG is doing, and how immersive experiences are shifting the culture and teaching about it at the same time.
Jon’s personal and professional life is eclectic and exciting, to say the least. A film, VR and theatre writer/director, action coordinator, stuntman, creative consultant for Disney Imagineering and musician, Jon's unusual range of talent gives him a keen ability to deliver his original, creative vision. His work with some of the top directors in the business on titles such as Tenet, The Dark Knight Rises, Ironman, Star Trek, and Indiana Jones 4 has played its part in helping to bring his passion project to life: DELUSION, the first ever interactive horror theatre experience. Hailed as LA’s most successful interactive theatre experience for 7 consecutive years, Delusion engages with audiences to play their part in fantastical and otherworldly stories. This moving play set the industry standard for interactive theatre nationally, placing Jon/Delusion as vanguards in this emerging space. Most recently, Jon has been swallowed into the world's largest haunted house company, Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group (TFEG). Tasked with creating an all new division, Jon will help expand the company's reach into the otherworld of immersive with the first interactive horror play under the TFEG banner; Delusion: Reaper's Remorse. Opening Fall 2021 in Los Angeles.
Fri Forjindam leads global business development, branding and communications for Mycotoo, Inc., an experience design, production and “top media” company by Inc. 500. Voted “Top 50 Theme Park Influencer” by Blooloop Magazine, Fri has created distinctive guest experiences in film, theatre, publishing and special events. She has worked as a creative director for Bollywood Parks, as project manager, Executive Creative lead for Prince's Paisley Park Experience and Producer for Los Angeles Downtown Latin Museum Gala Opening and T-Mobile HTC’s corporate tours. As a Cameroonian-born, MFA graduate of Columbia University in NYC, Forjindam brings her rich, diverse background in content development and experiential marketing to facilitate development strategies for regional, national and international tourism. Forjindam has been featured on Huffington Post, Essence Magazine, KTLA, and sits on the board for the Ryman Arts Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming the lives of young artists through visual arts education.
Nataki Garrett is the Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, one of the largest theater-producing organizations in the U.S., and is widely recognized as an innovative and influential arts leader. She has led the 85-year-old OSF through one of the most cataclysmic periods in its history, raising $19 million while mobilizing federal support for the non-profit theater industry during the pandemic. At the start of her tenure, in 2019, she conceived an interactive and immersive digital platform, O!, which became all the more vital in live theater’s absence as a source of groundbreaking performance, art, and discussion.
Mikhael Tara Garver has been a pioneer in original experiential and immersive entertainment for over two decades. She was a director on A.R.T. & Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More; is the founder of 13Exp, an experiential studio creating epic orginal and scalable experiences; is a member of the Guild of Future Architects; recently created and led Rio Records bringing together over 90+ physical and digital artists to bring the LA River to life; was the Head of Experiential Entertainment for Category41; is a 4-time Pop Culture Collaborative Grantee for Narrative Change in The Immersive Field, and has most recently joined the incredible team for the Galactic Starcruiser as the Immersive Experience Director. Mikhael’s work has been in rock clubs, on subway cars, in stadiums, built for long-term financial sustainability, appeared for one night only on battleships, or taken over buildings of all shapes and sizes. She taught at Yale, Columbia University, Harvard, and Tisch School of the Arts, among others. She’s received immersive commissions from The United Nations, The Kennedy Center, The Public Theater, The New York Public Library, American Repertory Theater, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, among many others. She has built award-winning experiences for AMC Television, The National Park Service, Viacom, Amazon, Bloomberg, Smirnoff, and Warner Brothers. Mikhael is a proud board member of the Immersive Expereince Institute launching The Next Stage Festival in 2022. www.mikhaeltaragarver.com ig @mtgexperience
In his role as Creative Executive for Walt Disney Imagineering, Michael is responsible for leading the creative development for entertainment experiences for Disney’s Parks, Resorts and Cruise Lines around the world. Currently Michael is collaborating with Cirque Du Soliel on the highly anticipated new show Drawn to Life - a first-ever collaboration between Cirque du Soleil, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Imagineering. Most recently Michael was the Executive Creative Director for Shanghai Disneyland’s new Nighttime spectacular Illuminate. Michael led the creative development for several recent offerings at Walt Disney World such as Happily Ever After at the Magic Kingdom; Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular and Disney Movie Magic at Disney’s Hollywood Studios; Rivers of Light, The Tree of Life Awakenings, The Jungle Book: Alive With Magic and the exciting new immersive experiences within Pandora: The World of Avatar, all at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Michael was instrumental in the development of all new shows for the opening of Shanghai Disneyland, bringing to life amazing new experiences that are both authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese, such as the eye-popping acrobatic musical Tarzan: Call of the Jungle. Michael is also the creative force behind such Disney park favorites as Mickey and the Magician at Walt Disney Studios Park, Tangled: The Musical on Disney Cruise Line, the delightful Mickey and the Wondrous Book at Hong Kong Disneyland, Mickey and the Magical Map at Disneyland Park, Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy and The American Idol Experience at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Finding Nemo – The Musical at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Michael was born in Detroit, Michigan and is a faculty member at California Institute of the Arts. Michael resides in Los Angeles, California.
Alyssa Landry is a narrative director, writer and immersive experience designer. Credits include: Double Eye Studios - Finding Pandora X (VR Theater – Winner Best VR Immersive User Experience, Venice Film Festival 2020), Loveseat (VR Theater - Venice Film Festival 2019), Cardboard City (XR Documentary, NYFF 2016) and Metropoles (multiplayer VR); Incarna –The Trial (multiplayer LBEVR), R-AI-D (VR); Disneyland Paris: The Jedi Training Academy, Frozen Sing-Along, The Forest of Enchantment, among others; Original musical theater: Baba Yaga, Élémentaire, mon cher!, Énooormes, Bons Baisers de Broadway, Jusqu’aux Dents and #Hashtags!.
A pivotal figure in the immersive theatre and experiential world, Andrea Moccia has delivered a series of unparalleled experiences in his time as Senior Producer for Secret Cinema. Working at the forefront of ‘Secret Cinema Presents’ he has recreated iconic worlds such as: Baz Lurhman's Moulin Rouge, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove and Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. Most recently, he has been overseeing the launch of the brand’s first international production, as producer for Secret Cinema Presents: Casino Royale which saw a disused Shanghai former Expo Building transformed into the high stakes world of 007. The production transferred from London after great critical and commercials success and an attendance of 110,000 audience. Andrea is also involved in the Secret Cinema’s outreach projects; engagement and educational initiatives aimed at young people between the ages of 16-25. He has facilitated several workshops for London schools and co-hosted Secret Youth’s Screening of I, Daniel Blake; this saw artists and performers including Ken Loach, Goldie, Fay Milton, and Novelist take the stage ahead of the 2017 UK general election to speak about the flaws of the welfare system and the rise of food banks in the UK. Other outreach initiatives included a screening of a Bollywood film in the Jungle Refugee Camp in Calais, fundraising and awareness campaigns for multiple charities, and special screenings in collaboration with Mind UK and the Refugee Council.
Recently profiled as “Variety’s 2020 Top 10 Broadway to Watch”, Brian Moreland is a Two-time Tony Award Nominated creative lead producer for Broadway and the CEO of B More Now Productions. With a passion for universal stories that bring new narratives into the mainstream form of entertainment. Brian, firmly believes in the ability of theatre to foster empathy, and enlighten while entertaining audiences. Upcoming projects for Broadway include: American Buffalo with Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell and Darren Criss, and this October at the Golden Theatre on Broadway Keenan Scott II’s Thoughts of a Colored Man, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III. His previous works include: The Lifespan of a Fact with Cherry Jones, Daniel Radcliffe and Bobby Cannavalle, The Sea Wall/ A Life with Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge, The Sound Inside with Mary-Louise Parker for Broadway to name a few. Charles Randolph-Wright’s Cuttin Up starring Blair Underwood, Joe Morton and Tisha Campbell, and While We Breathe. Although originally from California, Brian, currently resides in New York City. In addition to being an adjunct faculty member at NYU, Brian, devotes his spare time to the Theatre Development Fund (TDF) and is active member of the Board of Governors at The Broadway League, where he is also Co-Chair of the Multicultural Task Force and a Trustee of the board for Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids.
A former Disney Imagineer and Refinery29/Vice Media Experiential Creative Director, Stephanie Riggs has been bridging storytelling and immersive technology for over two decades through ground-breaking projects across theatre, theme park, film, experiential and XR. Her collaborations with international corporations (Facebook, Google, Netflix, Amazon), start-ups (InceptionVR, JauntVR, Lightframe.co), non-profits (IndieFlixFilms, The Nantucket Project), and academia (Yale Blended Reality Lab, NYU Future Reality Lab, CMU Entertainment Technology Center) have pushed the boundaries of technology and story. Stephanie's VR work has premiered at Tribeca, Future of Storytelling, SIGGRAPH, and Stereopsia, prompting an invitation to film President Barack Obama’s historic speech in Nairobi, Kenya in 360. In traditional media, she directed the New York Times Critics Pick documentary “The Standbys” about Broadway understudies and standbys and produced the cult classic film “Banshee Chapter” with Zachary Quinto (“Star Trek”), which was also the first feature film released in VR (Oculus DK2). Stephanie's acclaimed book, “The End of Storytelling" presents a powerful new paradigm for narratives in immersive technology. Passionate about inspiring diverse, interdisciplinary teams, she frequently mentors and speaks around the world (TedX, SXSW, SIGGRAPH, Yale, Harvard) and is a co-founder of the 5th Wall Forum and the World Experience Organization. Stephanie is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama (Directing) and School of Computer Science (Human-Computer Interaction).
LaVonya Washington, affectionately known as Von Ross, is the Co-Creator of the Museum for Black Girls and also a devoted educator at Emily Griffith Technical College As an educator, Von Ross sits on many boards. She is a dedicated trainer, teacher, advisor, and motivational speaker. Most days are spent inspiring, mentoring, and collaborating with many different artists from many different genres. Her latest and greatest triumph is the collaboration of artists at The Museum for Black Girls. Von Ross leads several personal tour, guiding guests into an immersive experience into the narrative of the beauty of black girl magic as they take a tour of each inspirational exhibit.
Andrew Scoville is a NYC-based artist specializing in immersive layouts, technological landscapes, and hybrid-genre theater-making. Much of his work integrates science ideas into theatrical experiences. Current project: Theater of the Mind by David Byrne and Mala Gaonkar (premiering in Denver with DCPA). He has been commissioned to create unique experiences for The National Museum of Math, The New York Hall of Science, and Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Associate Director credits include: Tooting Arts Club's immersive production of Sweeney Todd at Barrow St Theater (NYC) and David Byrne’s musical, Here Lies Love (NYC, Seattle, UK). He is a co-Founder/co-Director of Fresh Ground Pepper NYC, and is a head of Project Track at Playwrights Horizons Theater School at NYU Tisch Drama. www.andrewjscoville.com
Natalia has been an integral part of launching interactive immersive experiences around the world. She is responsible for creating a new office in the US for Hello I/O, a company that has been producing interactive multimedia projects, immersive spaces, AR/VR/MR, interactive holograms, controllable robotics, and all kinds of digital magic internationally and for A-list brands for over a decade. Having joined the company 5 years ago, Natalia spearheaded the subsidiary Hello Park, the first multimedia park for kids in Europe, that quickly became the largest chain in the world. She was essential in creating interactive experiences in 7 countries in Europe, Asia, and America, and traveling shows that toured in 12 countries in iconic locations like the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Shanghai. Before her current position, Natalia worked on various projects with Microsoft, Proctor and Gamble, Ernst and Young, British American Tobacco, KPMG, and Danone, but her main focus and interest were people, psychology, and stories. She graduated from Kyiv National Linguistic University with a Master’s Degree in Languages and Psychology. And though her education is in the humanities, new technologies have always been a fascination. She believes that technology creates a unique intersection between engagement, development, and edutainment for the youngest generation and is inspired to be a driver for this evolving trend.
Jenny Weinbloom is a bicoastal creative director and executive producer of immersive exhibitions, attractions, theatre, themed entertainment, and interactive storytelling projects. She has been a key player in and producer of some of the premier trailblazing projects of the immersive renaissance, including Sleep No More and Meow Wolf, where she served as Executive Producer of their Denver flagship. Drawing on over a decade of experience in the immersive space, Jenny develops original and transformative stories, content, and interactive experiences for diverse audiences internationally in collaboration with clients and IP partners including Warner Brothers, CBS Viacom, 20th Century Fox, Nickelodeon, Vice, Baz Luhrmann, Radio City Rockettes, George R.R. Martin, and more. She is currently the senior creative director at Impact Museums where, as head of studio, she drives a portfolio of inspiring, entertaining and educational museum experiences focused on social impact causes. She is also the executive director of The Speakeasy Society, LA’s leading immersive theatre company.
Laika Young O'Brien (they/them) is the Lead Experience Designer at Meow Wolf and the founder of No Sleep Studio, a full service experience design company that specializes in the creation of waking dreams. They have an immense passion for crafting meaningful interactive experiences that invoke wonder, expand the spectrum of emotion, and invite participants to more fully connect with their inner and outer landscapes. Laika is honored to be joining the Immersive Industry Homecoming Summit, where they'll be speaking about Meow Wolf's Las Vegas and Denver exhibits, and what immersive entertainment can teach us about being deeply human.
Founded by Los Angeles immersive theatre producer Lyndsie Scoggin, CoAct Productions is independent immersive design company. A collaborative of artists, storytellers and designers that believe that stories are more than just a passive activity. Rather, we focus on presenting narrative as an embodied experience. Immersive theatre has provided us a platform to create intimate performances that are uniquely engaging. We are deeply passionate about developing these one-of-a-kind experiences and look forward to sharing more of our work with audiences! Past work includes The Sideshow (2018), The Severance Theory: Welcome to Respite (2019), and Cold War Lounge (2019). www.coactproductions.com
Ferryman Collective is a group of theatre-makers dedicated to furthering the art of live theatre in virtual reality. Drawing from the experience gained developing their previous productions, PARA and Krampusnacht, they look to push the boundaries of what the medium offers in both their in-house productions and to serve as a resource for third-party creators by providing a diverse set of artistic and logistical talent to bring their plans to life.
In alphabetical order.
Tristan began theatre in England, at the Oast Theatre in Hildenborough. In 2011 he arrived in France and in 2012 he began training under Christophe Caustier at the Regional Conservatory of Perpignan. In 2015, he continued theatre at the Municipal Conservatory of Paris’ 13th Arrondissement whilst getting a degree in Theatre Studies at the university of Paris La Sorbonne Nouvelle. He started directing and translating in 2016 with The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek and Something Rotten, a liberal translation and adaptation of Shakesepare’s Hamlet. After several years writing and working behind the scenes in the performing arts, he co-founded the AFAI (French Association for Immersive Artists) of which he is now the president. He has since founded the Collective Roc Blanc in 2020 with Cristel Fixy, making site-specific theatrical and musical performances. Since then, he has written and directed Quand viendra le déluge, an immersive play in which the audience is invited to visit a bunker designed to withstand the end of the world. He is currently working on his début novel and a début album.
Martin Coat is a Theatrical Director, Artistic Director and Creative Producer who pioneered the immersive theatrics of Boomtown Fair, a five-day music festival with 66,000 attendees that prides itself on its theming, performance arts and storytelling. Martin also co-founded Dank Parish, an immersive theatre production company which has produced many events and performances, including the Legitimate Peaky Blinder Festival which Martin directed and developed in partnership with the producers of the hit T.V. show. Martin's work with Dank Parish was instrumental in securing the position of Director of Theatre and Concept Development at Boomtown Fair, the most immersive theatrical music festival on Earth, in 2013, a position which he has held since. In this role Martin has developed immersive storytelling at the festival to the point where it is, today, an integral part of the Boomtown brand identity and represents a significant proportion of the audience experience. The concept of a five-day themed alternate reality space serving tens of thousands of people, most of whom have no interest in traditional theatre, is representative of Martin’s pioneering spirit and dedication to his craft. Developing Boomtown’s theatrics involved the application of new approaches and techniques; to this end Martin formed a collaboration with Rogue Beacon, a creative agency specialising in alternate reality gaming, intellectual property development and narrative-driven brand experience. After the success of this partnership Martin joined Rogue Beacon as the Creative Producer and leads a team that fuses experimental approaches with traditional marketing wisdom and creative inspiration.
Muso is the founder of NeXT SCENE, the international consulting agency focusing on global immersive experiences and technologies, with headquarters in New York and Shanghai. Muso initiated the China Immersive Design Industry League and organized major conferences in China. As the director of NeXT SCENE ReSEARCH, he led a team conducting industry research and monitoring the global trends in this field, where they published the Chinese version of Global Immersive Design Industry Development Report 2019/2020, Broadway Industry Report with Harmonia Holdings, and China Escape Room Industry Report with Meituan Research Institute. He also lectured at NYU, University of the Arts, Columbia Global Centers and consulted for tech companies such as Huawei, iQiyi, Tencent, real estate owners such as OCT, Wanda, SunAC etc. His main endeavor is to connect the east and west, enhancing cultural communication by facilitating global collaboration and co-production. Before NeXT SCENE, Muso held a variety of experiences that fit into his current venture. He worked as the lead Architect for a large-scale urban development project in Shanghai, developed on cutting edge immersive technologies for Google and McKinsey, help founded and operated a New York based 501c3 non-profit art foundation. As a Broadway insider, he invested in Broadway Musical Hadestown, which won Tony Awards for Best Musical. He earned a Master of Science degree from Columbia University and an MBA from the Quantic School of Business & Technology.
Daniel joined Swamp Motel in 2018 to lead the business as Managing Director, following 4 years working at Accenture as a management consultant with a focus on innovation and digital strategy. Starting his career working in independent film, he then moved to China to work in financial media before returning to the UK in 2012 to complete a Master’s degree in Management at the Imperial College Business School. Under his leadership, Swamp Motel have gone onto create exciting immersive experiences for some of the biggest brands in the world including Verizon Media, Deloitte and Capcom.
Hamish co-founded Dept. Studios, a new company set up to create Immersive shows with IP from the world of DC comics. As a Creative Director, he’s used his wide knowledge and experience to build a unique career focused on large-scale immersive worlds, product launches and events for brands such as FIFA, BMW, Lexus, Adidas, and BBC. Listed in Time Out’s 100Club of creative innovators for his work in Performance Art. In 2008 Hamish founded the cult experimental arts venues, The Old Vic Tunnels & The Vaults with hit productions such as Tunnel 228 with Punchdrunk and Banksy’s alternative World Premiere of ‘Enter through the Gift-shop’.
Ollie Jones is the Co-founder and Creative Director of Swamp Motel, the UK-based entertainment company that blurs the boundaries between theatre, film, and gaming. He was the co-creator of Swamp Motel’s immersive online Isklander series, which was a Webby Honoree and won Gold at the 2021 Campaign Experience Awards. Prior to his work at Swamp Motel, Jones was a Creative Associate at immersive theatre company Punchdrunk, and Co-Founder of horror-comedy theatre troupe Kill the Beast.
Owen is the founder and Artistic Director of pioneering immersive and interactive company Parabolic Theatre. He is a writer and director with over 20 years experience working in the theatre and film industries. Parabolic shows are known for their extreme levels of interactivity, and for adapting on the fly in response to audiences. Owen is a passionate advocate for this ‘adaptive narrative’ approach to interactive performance. Examples of his/Parabolic’s work include "For King and Country", "Crisis? What Crisis?" and "The House of Cenci". https://www.parabolictheatre.com
Nate Koch is a Lortel-award winning (Sweeney Todd, 2017) and Drama Desk-award winning (Queen of the Night, 2015) experience designer and executive producer for large-scale immersive and site-specific works, theatrical productions, and art + hospitality hybrid projects. He combines his creative passions with a concomitant interest in the business and logistics-art side of the immersive business, most prominently as the founder and owner of ENVEEKAY, a consultancy and general management company that models, develops, and executes immersive projects for a range of artists, producers, and businesses. Next up: the world premiere of David Byrne’s neuroscience + immersive hybrid Theater of the Mind (Denver Center for the Performing Arts, 2022).
Melinda Lauw is an artist and experience designer leading the development of new micro attractions at El Masnou, an immersive entertainment company in Singapore, known for creating The Bubble Tea Factory and family-friendly escape room, Otah & Friends. Co-founder of the hit immersive ASMR production Whisperlodge and former Story Lead at Museum of Ice Cream, her mission is to highlight immersive work from Singapore and connect immersive communities around the world. Melinda has been featured on Netflix, PBS, and in The New York Times, and has created experiences for brands such as Audible, Refinery 29 and Marriott Hotel Group.
Born in 1985, I feel like I was born for games. I started playing games when I was 5 years old and have played over 2,000 kinds of games since then. Compared with playing games, actually I like designing games more. I Designed my first D&D paper game at the age of 8, and designed MMORPG games with a game editor at the age of 14. At the age of 21, I won the silver award in the National Game Design Competition. At the age of 22, I entered the video game industry and worked as a game designer and successively worked as a senior executive in the design department of several national well-known game companies. At the age of 28, I started my own real scene game brand "MAX COUNT". I am currently the chairman, CEO and design director of the company, responsible for the company's development strategy, internal management, organizational structure and product research and development. At the same time, I am the vice president of the Real Scene Entertainment Branch of China Culture and Entertainment Industry Association and the Vice president of Chongqing Culture and Entertainment Industry Association. Also I am a lecturer in the EGA Room Escape industry platform entrepreneurship camp and wrote the first book with EGA on room escape design in China, "Designing Room Escape from Scratch".
Cofounder and Director of the award-winning creative studio Marshmallow Laser Feast, Robin has directed a myriad of immersive experiences, large-scale installations and live performances. His primary focus is on creating mixed reality storyworlds and developing narrative works for live virtual productions that explore tactile, multi-sensory interaction. In 2021 Robin directed Dream; a collaboration with The Royal Shakespeare Company, Philharmonia Orchestra, Epic Games + Manchester International Festival featuring Nick Cave. Robin’s latest project is MLF’s most ambitious project to date; the multi-sensory location-based experience Sweet Dreams; a collaboration with writer Simon Wroe & the BFI.
Aruna founded Visual Respiration in 2012, after making a performance by the same name, where she told human stories of digital photographs. She is presently the Artistic Director of Visual Respiration. She also uses Art practices to create sensory learning experiences. She is a trainer where she engages with students in the craft of performance making. She holds an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Her work goes beyond the linear and she generates performance material through research and embodied practice. The audience is part of the making process from the word go, given that the work is intimate and immersive in nature. She is interested in the performance to present multiple perspectives without resorting to the single narrative. From Yoga and Kalaripayattu to physical theatre (Lecoq) to View Points (Anne Bogart), her work is inspired by various frameworks and forms - being interested in constant exploration of creating a new vocabulary for her work. From promenade performance to Immersive work to blindfolded experiences, she has crafted various sensory experiences.
James Seager joined Les Enfants Terribles in 2003. He has twenty years of experience in theatre, television and film, both as an actor, producer and director. As Creative Director of LET, he oversees the day to day running of the company, producing and directing all of the company’s shows including the Immersive smash hit "Alice's Adventures Underground” and the most recently seen “The Trench”, The Terrible Infants” and “The Game's Afoot”. As an actor his theatre credits include: “Whipping it up” in the West End and his TV credits include “The Bill”, “Eastenders”, and Steven Poliakoff’s “Perfect Strangers”.
Jihi is a crossover and innovative digital live-action entertainment development and operator. We try to bring the new content forms that are popular among young people -- script killing, secret room, immersive theater, puzzle book, interactive drama, etc., through smart phones or smart wearable devices, using LBS, AR/MR, AIot and other technologies. In the cultural tourism scenic spots and commercial real estate to display and interaction, we call the big scene application of digital real scene content products. In the more than one year since the establishment of Jihi, we have done a lot of exploration of digital innovative real action game projects with abundant imagination, including large-scale real action interactive drama triggered by LBS; Real scene puzzle book based on mobile phone + puzzle book experience in offline pavilion; The 7.3 square kilometers of the ancient city as a large real scene search evidence scene of the big scene real scene script kill; Cyberpunk themed immersive sandbox interactive theater planned and created in super Internet celebrity attractions; And a citywide escape built in cooperation with Count MAX's team, with an entire city as a map and tens of thousands of people participating at the same time. The core concept of Drama is to create a digital twin game world of online and offline linkage together with the world's best real scene content development team.
Sara Thacher is a Creative Director and Senior R&D Imagineer at Walt Disney Imagineering, where she works with engineers, computer scientists, architects, artists, and inventors to fashion new technology into revolutionary guest experiences. Her work at Imagineering includes creative leadership on the upcoming Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser two-day immersive experience and the TEA Award winning Haunted Mansion: Ghost Post. Previously, she served as Executive Producer and Experience Designer at Nonchalance where she co-created the groundbreaking experience, The Jejune Institute.
William is the co-founder and COO of China‘s leading murder mystery LARP company, and the pioneer of trendy entertainment industry in China. William is responsible for developing the newfashioned lifestyle for Chinese generation Z, which includes murder mystery LAPR, escape rooms, immersive cultural tourism, etc. Probe Notes have produced more than 100 LARP scripts, and its sub brand “AfterLife” owns the biggest escape room in Shanghai. In addition, William is enthusiastic about collaborating with various cross-border brands. Well known intellectual properties such as the most popular mobile game “Honor of Kings”, the most viewed TV series in 2019 “Joy of Life”, the most popular comics “The Overcast” have already been collaborated in different ways with William. William is looking for more connections with different industries and brands globally, to bring the latest immersive experience overseas.
Yijun Wang has been an enthusiast of video games and Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TRPG) since his college life. After four years of participating in marketing work in Australia, he decided to come back to China and do something different - creating Mirrorland, an original game combing the concepts of existing TRPGs and Internet social networking. With retaining the openness and socialization property of TRPG, such as Dungeons and Dragons, Mirrorland uses mobile apps, websites, and other technical tools to reduce understanding costs and calculation complexity in the game. Soon after being launched in Shanghai immersive market, Mirrorland has received significantly positive responses. Consequently, Mixu Technology Ltd., Mirrorland's owner, has acquired government funds for innovative technology companies and completed its second round of financing in 2021. The Mirrorland system created by Yijun and his team has realized the "diversification of computer role-playing games (CRPG)" and "customization of diversified games". The system aims to enable players to live their characters' lives via both online and offline experiences. Besides, players can store their unique character information, such as skills, items, and stories, in the Mirrorland system. In this way, Mirrorland solves the problem of defining "who I am" for players in immersive games, which greatly increases target groups' engagement and repeat purchases. Today, Mirrorland has become a fast-growing technology company, and commit to "creating neotype role-playing game (RPG) experiences".
Stuart spent the last 6 years establishing an immersive culture in Singapore. He has directed, scripted, food and drink consulted, designed and adapted over 45 shows. He is a visionary in the field of immersive dining, often pushing the boundaries of the genre. As the co-founder of ANDSOFORTH, he and his wife Emily png, built the company from pop-up events into running a 8000 square foot venue with 2 custom built in kitchens that has served over 40,000 adult audiences and is currently Asia’s largest immersive dining experience. In 2019, they founded Andsoforth Junior and conceptualised 22 Stories, Asia’s first theatrical interactive museum housed in a 20,000 sq. ft warehouse for 3 months with an estimated attendance of 35,000.
Like the majority of escape owners, I started as an enthusiast who had played escape games globally since 2013, including 200+ across 10 different cities in China. Very quickly my passion took over and led to the creation of Archimedes Inspiration. The initial purpose was to export and adapt some of the handpicked and most-loved Chinese games to a less matured foreign market. To date, we have successfully modified and brought three games to the UK. All of our multiple-award-winning games are narrative driven and fully automated with a focus on immersion to facilitate the storytelling. The advantage of being in London has introduced us to many enthusiasts worldwide, earning a place on their "bucket list." Being both an owner and an enthusiast, it enabled me to connect to both sides of the industry and to have a much broader perception behind the games. I was also invited as a panellist and a speaker at China's Escape Game Alliance Conference between 2017-2019. I would like to share my knowledge, experiences and insights into the Chinese escape room industry and to bridge the gap between China and the rest of the world.
With her academic background in Chinese Communication (BA), Art and Media (MA) and Cultural and Creative Industries (MA), Yi has worked in culture and media industries with broad experience in various sectors. Yi starts working on theatre projects since 2014, including the immersive You Me Bum Bum Train, The Wind in the Willows the Musical (2016), the immersive Great Gatsby (2019) and the immersive Wolf of Wallstreet (2019). As a producer originally from China, Yi presented and produced the immersive Alice’s Adventures Underground (Shanghai) in 2018. Other immersive projects she is presenting include immersive dinning and immersive gaming show.
AREA15, located minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, is the world’s first purpose-built experiential entertainment complex offering live events, immersive activations, monumental art installations, extraordinary design elements, unique retail, ground-breaking technology, bars and eateries and much more. With a growing collection of dynamic destinations including Emporium, Oddwood Bar, Dueling Axes, Lost Spirits Distillery, a culinary experience by Todd English and its anchor experience, Meow Wolf Las Vegas, AREA15’s ever-changing art, retail and entertainment attractions draw locals and tourists of all ages.
AREA15 represents a collaborative venture between real estate development firm Fisher Brothers and creative agency Beneville Studios, both of New York.
We simplify how you transition your events online and execute the onsite streaming process with flawless precision. We exist so that artists, creators, and producers can remain focused on their craft while we manage the virtual components. Simplified Streaming Solutions is here to support your projects through the digital era by being your directorial and technical allies. To learn more, reach out to [email protected]
Built by creators for creators Gamiotics is the only software solution for the live entertainment market that connects the audience and content with zero hassle. There’s nothing for your audience to download and it’s accessible instantly from the phone in their pocket. Gamiotics includes dozens of features for the immersive creator to expand connectivity and take their audience engagement to a whole new level. For more info or to get a free demo, visit www.gamiotics.com.
Amber is an international organization of 800+ artisans offering full development services for entertainment software and beyond. We are innovation partners and purveyors of a new development services model for creative industries. We are looking for partners in the LBE and immersive space to create even more amazing experiences using our expertise in games, concept art, prototyping, augmented reality, virtual reality, and interactive projection mapping. If you have a project but need additional experienced resources to make it awesome, get in touch with [email protected]! Find out more at http://www.amberstudio.com
Steve M. Boyle is the founder and CEO of Epic Immersive. Under his leadership, Epic Immersive has created immersive experiences with 14-acre real-world fictional cities and 100+ actors, crafted immersive journeys in China and Paris, built neighborhood-scale cultural and civic festivals, and designed experiences for Silicon Valley companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook. At Epic's imaginative events, guests have slid through slides in fireplaces into underground wonderlands, crawled through Dante Alighieri’s vaults, descended into replica London Underground stations, launched into mixed reality experiences from inside of Victorian mansions, and joined masquerades from revolutionary France on the docks of San Francisco.
Before founding Epic Immersive, Steve M. Boyle built immersive installations for Google Chairman Eric Schmidt’s venture capital firm Innovation Endeavors, helmed San Jose Rep’s Emerging Artists Lab, produced and directed off-Broadway, trained in global theatrical techniques across South and Southeast Asia, and ran the digital half of the million dollar funding campaign that saved Santa Cruz Shakespeare and attracted Sir Patrick Stewart to its Advisory Board. With Epic, he has continued his work with multicultural and multidisciplinary collaborations that unite historic spaces, cultural performance, and bleeding-edge technology. During his tenure as CEO, Epic has worked with a diverse slate of artists including taiko drummers, hip-hop artists, Ballet Folklorico dancers, ASMR specialists, escape room designers, mixed reality developers, swing dancers, and circus performers. In every year that Epic has existed, more than half of Epic's artists have always been women, and more than half of Epic's artists have always been artists of color.
Kimberly Flynn is a multi-talented immersive creator, performer, and producer. As the Associate Producer for Epic Immersive, she has been instrumental in bringing large-scale immersive experiences to life for the public and for Silicon Valley, and is co-producing The Immersive Industry Homecoming Summit, a gathering of the immersive community at AREA15 Las Vegas featuring leaders from the worlds of immersive theatre, virtual reality, theme parks, immersive art environments, and everything in between. For Epic, Kim ran the Underland initiative, a residency program and incubator for immersive artists from underrepresented backgrounds. All told, Kim produced 30 Underland shows and experiences in 12 months, supporting artists on projects as diverse as Japanese tea ceremonies, butoh rituals, immersive theatre, food-based escape rooms, and more.
Across her years with Epic, Kim has held creative roles in more than 60 immersive experiences, drawing on her 20+ years of experience in events and entertainment. Most recently, Kim designed and built a 10,000-square-foot, multi-theme immersive environment for Epic Immersive's Bohemia as part of Epic's residency at the Hotel Whitcomb in San Francisco. In her years at Epic, she has worked as a story creator, script-writer, actor, designer, production manager, and producer on projects ranging from story-centric immersive theatre to marketing activations to spectacular corporate parties to bespoke team-building events. Throughout her work, Kim has been an outspoken voice for equity, diversity, and empathy in artistic producing. Creatively, she is most drawn to exploring the healing power of art and developing transformative experiences filled with authenticity and playfulness.
Technical lead for all things audio visual and streaming. With a true passion for using gear to maintain a clean, high tech, luxurious experience, Conner, straightens the technical details out behind the scenes leaving the client to perform at their best.
Christy Casey is a creator of immersive & experiential entertainment and award-winning futurist (Next Gen Foresight Practitioners 2020 Fellow), who is researching the boundaries & intersections of imagination, belief, & delusion. She is the founder & artistic director of Ruse, & also works independently as a director, producer, creative consultant, workshop facilitator, & writer. She was a member of the Interactive Deep Dive, known for their project OpenMind (bit.ly/SimulifeDiaries), a simulife created in collaboration with Meow Wolf for an audience of just two participants, which unfolded over the course of four days during SXSW 2018 & spanned the entire city of Austin. As a director & producer of immersive and interactive experiences, she is always looking for ways to expand the boundaries of audience agency. Her mission is to help people open their minds to new possibilities by embodying alternate realities, challenging social expectations, and rethinking limiting beliefs. She has been featured by BBC future, The Verge, Cannes XR, NYU, For Freedoms, Bose, & the Film Society at Lincoln Center, amongst others. You can find her at @itsChristyCasey on IG, Twitter, & LinkedIn, or at itsChristyCasey.com.
Producer and director with a television and film background. Adam is well versed in the event world being a second generation entertainer and he brings a unique entertainment based perspective to the brand and communication programs.
Troy Heard is CEO of Table 8 Immersive and is currently in his sixth season as Artistic Director of Majestic Repertory Theatre in downtown Las Vegas. His immersive creations range from the intimate one-on-one Serial Killers You Know and Love to the freewheeling rock-and-roll takeover of the Thunderbird Motel for Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey. Most recently he was Creative Producer of USHH: Backstory Pass, an exclusive experience for the Usher residency at Caesars Palace. Additional clients include Cirque du Soleil and Remy Martin. He holds an MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design and a BSEd in Theatre Education from Columbus State University.
Styling, planning, + creative direction for live, hybrid, and virtual events. Danielle is design-focused and she enlists multi-sensory aspects within each installation she curates. She's a seasoned event producer of ten years with a creative ethos.
Audette is a multi-modal artist & experience designer with a couple vibrant decades of event experience (from performance to production, underground to corporate). She's the ladyboss of Catalyst Arts, specializing in wow-factor Entertainment & Elevated XR, specializing in AR Activations. She lives in NorCal & loves to push the envelope with visual storytelling/bodypaint/costumes, immersive media, & interactivation. For the after-party she will be adding her styling touch as well as creating a social quest card game to facilitate & lubricate the connection process. (www.audettesophia.com) or (www.catalystarts.com)
Jacob Vorperian is the technical wizard, creative technologist, inventor, and production designer behind some of Epic Immersive's breakthrough experiences and some of the San Francisco Bay Area's most beloved nightlife events. He has created everything from a moving, dark-ride-style "airship" that transported guests from a secretive entrance in a pub into the world of Neverland to projection-mapped nightclub experiences at San Francisco's iconic DNA Lounge to an innovative software extension of the Gather.Town platform that enabled Dragon Productions' landmark pandemic-era remote show "All We Have to Fear." A talented creator, story-crafter, and actor, Jacob has fueled both the writing and technology of over 20 unique Epic experiences. Jacob is Epic Immersive's Technical Director for the Immersive Industry Homecoming Summit, where he is partnering with AREA15 Las Vegas and Simplified Streaming Solutions to deliver an enhanced summit experience, with added spectacle and drama for both the in-person crowd and the global virtual audience.
Vourteque is one of America’s premiere bass, electroswing and neo-vintage DJs. He specializes in fusing glitch hop, swing, big band, breakbeats, blues, soul, funk, and house elements all together in one neo vintage fever dream. He’s performed at events and festivals throughout the United States from Oregon Eclipse to Lightning in a Bottle, from Cirque du Soleil to Theatre Bizarre, from Tampa Steampunk Ball to Party Like Gatsby. He’s a regular performer on The Hangar Stage at Electric Forest Festival and is one of the founders of the Rouge! Neo-Vintage Cabaret dance party series. As a producer he’s had 3 original releases as well as done remixes for Sepiatonic, Professor Elemental, Good Co, and others. His cover of Henry Mancini’s classic track ‘Peter Gunn’ can be heard on the newest addition to of internationally popular Bart & Baker electro swing compilation series. Other original songs and remixes can be found on compilations from Dirty Volt Records and Speakeasy Electro Swing.
