CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Do Robots Dream of Electric Scene Partners?

AMERICAN THEATRE: In recent years, the question of where theatre and technology meet, and if they should at all, has been in the air. From live-tweeting during plays to tech-driven shows, theatremakers have their brains in the Cloud. With technology onstage and off reaching greater and more ambitious heights, what’s next frontier? Most likely robots.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I think that technology in theater is great. The advancements that are made are insane and it makes a you feel like your in that show even more. Bu the most annoying thing in a theater is people on there phone. People can't get of there phone for 2 hours to see an insane show in front of them. The word is so stuck in there cell phones and its so frustrating to be sitting behind them. I payed to see a show not to see you on your phone. Its disrespectful for the actors and everyone sitting around you. But the idea of the robot is so cool how they can have a robot interact with a human on stage. Its crazy the technological advances that happen each year.

Anabel Shuckhart said...

The new technological advances in theatre that this article goes into depth about are extremely interesting to explore and learn about as a person who is looking to get into theatre as a potential career in the next few years. The idea of robots interacting on stage with actors and in that, with audience members is an interesting prospect, especially when thinking about how this new advancement would change the preparation and rehearsal time of a production. How would this affect different design elements? How would this affect a director's ability to direct along with how they would approach directing a production? How does this affect the job of a stage manager? I fully agree with Jody as well; today in our society, every single person in almost every single community is communicating through, communicating with, and interacting with technology in one way or another. Whether it is typing up a response to an online article or sticking your face into a phone to like Instagram pictures, technology is there. The question is, then, should we be adding this much new and innovative technology on stage in a production? Are people not already getting enough of that? How far can or should we really let technology take over such a classic, traditional, and pure art form like theatre and performing arts?