The Theatre Times: After my seventh time seeing Chekhov brought to life through NFTs, robots, and an electric blue cherry orchard at the Baryshnikov Arts Center this summer (Arlekin Players Theater’s “The Orchard,” starring Jessica Hecht and Mikhail Baryshnikov, headed to Boston in early November), I couldn’t get over the idea that the keys to our future maybe forged in an unusual alliance of technology and theater.
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I posted this anonymously but it's totally my comment so here I am reposting again (2nd time I've done this!):
For the first half of the time that I was reading this I was wondering what it specifically had to do with theatre, and then I read the question/answer that narrative experiences are suited to VR and it then made sense. I think that this idea itself is rather interesting and innovative, and its absolutely unlike anything that I have seen before. I also like the discussion about viewing 360 space, and getting to “choose” where to look, as opposed to sitting and looking at a stage. The creator also spoke about leaving an impact, which is something that I think that most artists hope to do, so again we are not all that different. After the question about which musical would they turn into VR if possible, I began thinking about different shows and how they would be affected by VR. The integration of these two things would bring about so many challenges, but it would sure make for an unforgettable experience.
The articles about climate change always catch my attention because it's a topic that's really important to me. From Sea to Rising Sea seems like a really effective way to get a message about climate change out to young audiences as well as the general concerned public. I would guess that the experience is most impactful because it's able to give the viewer a sense of actually being in a world that's been affected by climate change. As for the theater aspect of the piece, I immediately thought of the experience as being a reverse In The Round setup, where the viewer would have to turn their head to see everything. I would love to know more about how that changes things, about how designers would have to think about the project differently. I think VR could definitely be a way in which theater begins to go, if it catches on, and I this is a great way to begin to intertwine the two.
I love the way this piece utilized so many different areas of expertise. I would never expect a Broadway star, artistic swimmers, a marine biologist, and VR to come together to work on one project and be successful. I think it’s incredible that all these disciplines were even thought of to come together in the first place, let alone successfully bring a piece together. I haven’t had much exposure to VR, but I think it’s a really cool medium that has practically infinite possibilities. VR can be used in such a myriad of ways within theater and the arts, let alone all the other disciplines it can be used in. I would love to experience an immersive theater piece using VR - I think it would open up even more ways to fully immerse and fascinate an audience in ways that wouldn’t be quite as possible with average live theater. I’m excited to see where VR can take theater, especially in ways of importing an audience member into other scenarios that they may never get close to experiencing otherwise.
I’ve experienced some VR art pieces before so this caught my attention. I was very intrigued by this concept of combining VR and theater (and synchronized swimming? Not a combo I was expecting). But, this sounds like a very cool experience, and one that calls people to action. The tangible action items that are mentioned at the end of the experience are so crucial. If you bring people into a real life story that is going on, and in this case if left unattended changes all of our lives for the worse, not giving any action items can simply leave people in despair. It’s happened to me before. I think the combination of theater and VR is super interesting though, and brings into question what can be considered theater and.. well, what theater actually is? Based on where they said this VR exhibit will be open, I probably won’t have the opportunity to see it, but I’ll hold out hope!
This is a really interesting article because I think it demonstrates really well how technology is helping to drive the theater industry. I personally have always had an interest in VR and have done a few different projects using VR but I have never applied that to Theater and I would be really intrigued to be a part of a project like that. This project in particular I think is very meaningful and very impactful because of their message they’re trying to get across about the climate change and how they chose to make people care about climate change by showing them the world that they live in and making them feel immersed in the world Around them. Which some may say well they can just go look at those things themselves but VR does not limit how you get to view these things and I think that’s spectacular because you can truly be soaring over the oceans and truly be underwater using VR versus you may not get that same experience if you were to just try and go underwater. I hope to see more projects incorporating technology like VR and whatever is next after VR.
I love seeing people push the boundaries of theatre – how can we make a point and inspire social change, but also how can we redefine an audience experience in new and innovative ways? Making these points in a theatrical setting like this one gives leeway to explore and play a bit more; rather than reciting statistics or sticking to rather dry arguments, the theatre can explore more of the self and societal implications of these issues, and pose questions that appeal to the emotions of the audience. The idea that even just a short 6-minute VR experience could pack so much into it is fascinating. It also creates interesting job opportunities; you need technology experts in these specific fields in addition to your writers, directors, and storytellers, who can help find the intersection between those areas and paint a more interesting picture. The Augmented Reality dance experience sounds like another really cool project; I’d be curious to learn more about it when it launches.
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