Immersive theater
Bespoke theater, invented by Fondudes, extends participation to pre-production so each show is customized per audience at script level.
[1] Modern forms of immersive theater have a wide range of definitions, all based upon the degree and type of engagement found between actors and their audience.
[3] This is a narrative in which the participant[2] does not play a main role, as placing them in that position would involve too much volatility and freedom, preventing the telling of a structured story.
It also allows for a certain amount of ambiguity, as specific attributes such as age, gender, and profession are left unaddressed, and open to relative interpretation.
Rooms can be dark, bright, colorful, cold, warm, scented, and crammed in order to accomplish an ambiance desired by the actors.
By using light colors which correspond to specific emotions, the actors can capture spectators moods before a word is spoken or movement executed.
[4] The Teen Interactive Theater Education (TITE) program was established in 2007 to measure the level of decision-making skills and adolescent risk behaviors.
Theater provides participating youth with immersive experience focusing on "team building activities, experimental learning opportunities which will contribute in developing life skills, critical thinking, relationships and values."
[5] The National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution created an immersive theater about John Brown that explores historical memory and reflection.
The end goal being the reader and the listeners participate in a theatrical exchange giving way to the occasioned rumor that the ITB is a device used to instruct or create new immersive theater performers.
The theory continues that anybody reading the ITB that can make sense of its text while keeping the interest of the audience is demonstrating the skills necessary to perform in immersive theater environments.
[7] In 2008 RATS Theatre translated the play Antigone into an immersive radio drama to teach lessons in democracy and decision making to youths.
This production set the precedent for future Punchdrunk shows, including the repurposing of large disused or abandoned spaces, the blending of various genres into a cohesive storyline, and allowing the audience the freedom to experience the production at their own pace while wearing specialized masks to encourage exploration and a loss of inhibition.
They also produced the limited television series The Third Day, and are currently in collaboration with augmented reality company Niantic to find ways to bridge the gap between live theatrical experiences and video games.
[10] A Midnight Visit is an Australian interactive and immersive indoor theatrical experience based upon the works of Edgar Allan Poe, created by Broad Encounters Productions.
[11] Conceived and designed as a ‘choose-your-own-journey’, guests are invited to let their curiosity lead the way as they travel through a multi-room dreamscape filled with otherworldly characters and exquisite scenes.
The 75-minute production is led by various guides, all named "David Byrne", who take audiences through a journey of seven rooms, each one representing a stage of the artist's life.
[14] The project consists of nine theatres and eight universities working cooperatively "to understand, explore and apply immersive technology with storytelling to create new models of performance", during 2019 to 2023.
[15] Virtual reality in immersive theater consists of traditional story and filmic elements: plot, conflict, protagonist, antagonist.
[17] When creating a story through the virtual reality experience, the viewer can change the plot, which usually begins through a traditional inciting incident or catalyst.
As the viewer begins the VR story, the plot contains these traditional components: magical opportunity, test, enemy, a missing piece.
This digital immersion seeks to recreate a classical Chinese garden as a space for the audience to walk around and experience the play.
Examples can be seen throughout modern western culture such as H. G Wells's[19] 1897 serialized novel The War of The Worlds being adapted into the famous musical by Jeff Wayne.
[22] The virtual experience serves as a revolution to modern theatre where the audience no longer remains as passive watchers in their favourite plays and novels but rather feels as though they were written into the story.
From start to finish, the show employs a massive variety of devices to transform a normal immersive theatre experience into something much larger than life.
[24] During the 2020 pandemic, immersive theater makers began using social virtual reality platforms as multi-user experiences for remote performance.
[25] The Finalist for the 2020 Producer Guild of America’s Innovation Award recognized live, virtual reality theater performances The Under Presents, Adventure Lab and Dr. Crumb’s School for Disobedient Pets, Ferryman Collective’s Krampusnacht in VRChat and Brendan Bradley’s Jettison in Mozilla Hubs.
[27][28][29] In 2021, Ferryman Collective, Meta Movie and Brendan Bradley were recognized for long running immersive theater works in live virtual reality.
[30] In 1992 a local Brazilian theatre practitioner named Augusto Boal announced that he was running for the role of commissioner (mayor) and won the election using the slogan "Have the courage to be happy.
"[31] Augusto employed five full-time actors and ten part-time actors to aid in his "street theatre style, which was based on the idea of providing interactive theatrical performances to the impoverished parts of Rio in an effort to convey political policies through the art of acting on a interpersonal level and to boost morale within poor neighborhoods through media that is very often unattainable to the general working class.
