Monday, February 5th, from 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
ZOOM | Livestream
To watch digitally, visit the Hollywood Fringe YouTube channel during or after the event.
To join in on the Zoom chat, reserve your ticket no later than 6:00 pm PT on the event day.
This event will have live captioning. To request live ASL interpretation, please email [email protected] at least 72 hours in advance, and we will provide one.
Interested in site-specific & immersive work? Or producing your show at a venue in the Fringe Zone that’s not already registered with Fringe (BYOV)? This workshop is for you!
We will cover both the logistics of BYOV at HFF and the many creative and behind-the-scenes elements of producing immersive work.
Join our expert moderator, Annie Lesser, and brilliant panelists who have successfully navigated the hurdles and joys of taking the more unconventional route at HFF and beyond. Check out their bios below!
This workshop is followed by a Q&A.
HFF workshops are “pay what you can” with a suggested ticket price of $5
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Annie Lesser (She/They/Ze)
Annie Lesser is an award-winning immersive theatre writer, director, and producer who has done 6 Hollywood Fringes! She has brought her own venue 5 out of the 6 times using a park and her apartment. Outside fringe, she has done shows in elevators, alleyways, wine bars, bathrooms, nurseries, distilleries, and even a Ford Focus. Annie is currently a California Creative Corps grant recipient working with Amazin Grace Conservatory on creating site-specific audio theatre experiences that educate on earthquake preparedness and the systemic inequities surrounding natural disaster relief.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS
Katy Foley (she/her)
Katy Foley was born and raised on deep dish pizza during the bulls dream team years in Chicago. Too short to be like Mike she set her sights on entertainment. Her immersive journey began before she even knew it. Before immersive was called immersive. She performed in Kurt Cobain’s “Montage of Heck House” which was widely acclaimed by Vice Magazine and in the Luther immersive campaign for Fox at Comic Con. She also was offered a job as a performer at Cloak and Dagger where she finally learned there was a terminology for the art she had been doing for years. As a performer over the years, Katy has performed with companies like Disco
Dining Club, Drunken Devil, Meta For You, and Mycotoo to name a few. Shows and experiences have ranged from: Theatre Macabre, MadCap Motel, Rock of Ages, Electric Forest and most recently the Stranger Things Experience. Katy fell in love with immersive she created an award winning immersive company called KatNip Productions with her production partner Lena Valentine. KatNip specializes in immersive comedies like Paulie Polymers Office Christmas Party, Best Night Ever and the Immy Award Winning show the Sleepover. Katy’s excited to continue to perform in and create more experiences for years to come.
John Henningsen (he/him)
John is a creative producer with more than two decades of experience in performing arts management across the United States, including Los Angeles, New York, Kansas City, and Chicago. He is the founding Executive Director of the award-winning arts incubator, Thymele Arts, in Hollywood, California, which provides artists and organizations with infrastructure and administrative resources to support their growth and success. John is also the Producing Director of the nationally recognized Speakeasy Society, which has created over 35 original immersive productions across Los Angeles and worked nationally with Meow Wolf, Disney Imagineering, and Impact Museums. In 2023, John received the distinguished alumni award from California Institute of the Arts for his work cultivating emerging artists.
Janson Lalich (he/him)
Janson Lalich is a writer and immersive creator living in Monrovia, CA. His recent Hollywood Fringe Festival productions include The Sleepover, an online immersive 90s middle school sleepover experience that was winner of numerous No Proscenium Immy Awards in 2020, and Boston Bar Bloodsuckers, a murder mystery with vampire versions of the characters from Cheers. His resume features writing experiences for The Walt Disney Company, Netflix, and Warner Bros., and he was the writer for the immersive experience The Madcap Motel in Downtown LA. His preferred focus tends to be nostalgia, comedy, and the strange and paranormal.
