A natural evolution
Ruscella Immersive is not a change of direction for JJ Ruscella. It is the same craft carried into a new room.
For thirty years JJ has directed the same thing in different forms: a real person, inside a story, at the moment it counts. On stage that person sat in the audience. In live-action simulation they stood in the scene. In a headset they become its protagonist. Ruscella Immersive is where those rooms meet, and where the methods he developed in each are now offered to institutions and creators.
- 1989–2008The stage
Directing and producing theatre, then teaching acting, film and performance at UCF.
- 2001–2013The screen
Feature film, holiday shorts and the acting program at the New York Film Academy at Disney-MGM Studios.
- 2002–2020The simulation
The Interactive Performance Lab, live-action simulation for police and educators, and Shenandoah’s immersive lab.
- 2020 onThe headset
The immersive design taxonomy, OrchestrateXR and federal public-safety work.
- TodayRuscella Immersive
A studio that brings all four together: experiences designed in the round, produced to a director’s standard, and labs that teach others to make their own.
Where each service comes from
Immersive Design
From the researchThe peer-reviewed taxonomy JJ co-authored gives every Ri project a shared language: ten dimensions for designing around the participant, now the foundation of how the U.S. Air Force teaches XR.
Immersive Production
From the stage and the screenThree decades of directing actors, crews and audiences, applied to 360 capture, 3D development, projection mapping and live simulation.
Immersive Labs
From the classroomTwelve years teaching at UCF and a student-run lab built at Shenandoah, now delivered as labs where faculty and trainers design their own experiences.
