UpStage

UpStage is an open-source server-side application specifically designed for Cyberformance: multiple artists collaborate in real time via the UpStage platform to create and present live theatrical performances, for audiences who can be online or in a shared space and who can interact with the performance via a text chat tool.

[1][2] UpStage was developed in 2003 by programmer Douglas Bagnall to realize the vision of the cyberformance troupe Avatar Body Collision.

The first version of the software was created with a grant from the Smash Palace Collaboration Fund, a joint initiative of Creative New Zealand and the NZ Ministry for Research, Science and Technology; it was launched on 9 January 2004 and began to be used by artists and students around the world, as well as by the originators, Avatar Body Collision.

[citation needed] A second festival was held on 080808 (8–9 August 2008), covering an 18-hour period and involving artists from at least 14 time zones.

[5] As a web-based server-side application, UpStage can be accessed by both performers and audiences from almost any internet-connected computer, using any operating system and browser.

[7] Newcomers to UpStage can learn the basics very quickly, and the fact that no additional software download is required makes it very accessible.

[9] UpStage is an open-source project; it can be downloaded from the GitHub site and installed on a web server, giving control over who has login access.

Screengrab from "Vita Cyberformativa", by Miljana Peric, performed at the UpStage 10th Birthday Party, 9 January 2014
Screengrab from "Indigenous Maniacs", a performance created by UpStage workshop participants at the Computing Women's Congress, Waikato University (NZ), February 2006.
Screengrab from the cyberformance "We have a situation – Peopoly", performed online in UpStage and at De Bibliotheek Eindhoven on 18 April 2013.
Screen grab from "Balloon", by Petyr Veenstra, Gabriella Sacco, and Floris Sirag, performed at the UpStage 10th Birthday Party, 9 January 2014.
Screengrab from Etheatre and collaborators performing at the UpStage 10th Birthday Party, 9 January 2014