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Beyond the Bare Stage: Exploring Props as Potential Improviser-Controlled Technology

Published: 17 March 2019 Publication History

Abstract

While improvised theatre (improv) is often performed on a bare stage, improvisers sometimes incorporate physical props to inspire new directions for a scene and to enrich their performance. A tech booth can improvise light and sound technical elements, but coordinating with improvisers' actions on-stage is challenging. Our goal is to inform the design of an augmented prop that lets improvisers tangibly control light and sound technical elements while performing. We interviewed five professional improvisers about their use of physical props in improv, and their expectations of a possible augmented prop that controls technical theatre elements. We propose a set of guidelines for the design of an augmented prop that fits with the existing world of unpredictable improvised performance.

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Cited By

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  • (2020)Authoring and Visualization Tool for Augmented Scenic Performances Prototyping and Experience2020 22nd Symposium on Virtual and Augmented Reality (SVR)10.1109/SVR51698.2020.00068(413-419)Online publication date: Nov-2020

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    TEI '19: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction
    March 2019
    785 pages
    ISBN:9781450361965
    DOI:10.1145/3294109
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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    Published: 17 March 2019

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    Author Tags

    1. improvisational theatre
    2. performer-controlled technology
    3. props

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    TEI '19 Paper Acceptance Rate 36 of 110 submissions, 33%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 393 of 1,367 submissions, 29%

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    • (2020)Authoring and Visualization Tool for Augmented Scenic Performances Prototyping and Experience2020 22nd Symposium on Virtual and Augmented Reality (SVR)10.1109/SVR51698.2020.00068(413-419)Online publication date: Nov-2020

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