Stephanie Fulton
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many theater productions to shift to remote rehearsals and performances using online video conference platforms. Video conference software makes it possible to share individual performances, but loses the sense of presence together and provides no way to visualize blocking movements on the shared space of the stage. Rehearsal by video conference can cause productions to either omit blocking altogether or have only a few on stage rehearsals, sometimes just days before opening. This paper presents a Web-based system that enables productions to remotely rehearse blocking at any stage of the production. Remote performers can propose their own blocking, rehearse scripted cues and visualize movements in a shared virtual stage. This paper describes the design, implementation, and focus group evaluations of Stage Together with a college theater production of Medea by Euripides.
- Cyrus Bonyadi and Valerie Summet. 2018. A Pilot Study in Using Virtual Reality during Theatre Rehearsal. J. Comput. Sci. Coll. 34, 2 (dec 2018), 164–171.Google Scholar
- Don Samitha Elvitigala, Jochen Huber, and Suranga Nanayakkara. 2021. Augmented Foot: A Comprehensive Survey of Augmented Foot Interfaces. In Augmented Humans Conference 2021 (Rovaniemi, Finland) (AHs’21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 228–239. https://doi.org/10.1145/3458709.3458958Google ScholarDigital Library
- Euripides. 2021. Iphigenia in Aulis, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMW4g_5jn4E&t=4164s, Last accessed on 2022-02-24.Google Scholar
- Joe Geigel and Marla Schweppe. 2005. Virtual Theatre: A Collaborative Curriculum for Artists and Technologists. In ACM SIGGRAPH 2005 Educators Program (Los Angeles, California) (SIGGRAPH ’05). ACM, New York, NY, USA, Article 16. https://doi.org/10.1145/1187358.1187378Google ScholarDigital Library
- Yosuke Horiuchi, Tomoo Inoue, and Ken-ichi Okada. 2012. Virtual Stage Linked with a Physical Miniature Stage to Support Multiple Users in Planning Theatrical Productions. In Proceedings of the 2012 ACM International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces (Lisbon, Portugal) (IUI ’12). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 109–118. https://doi.org/10.1145/2166966.2166989Google ScholarDigital Library
- Jean-Marie Normand, Bernhard Spanlang, Franco Tecchia, Marcello Carrozzino, David Swapp, and Mel Slater. 2012. Full Body Acting Rehearsal in a Networked Virtual Environment-a Case Study. Presence: Teleoper. Virtual Environ. 21, 2 (April 2012), 229–243. https://doi.org/10.1162/PRES_a_00089Google ScholarDigital Library
- Fabio Pittarello. 2017. Experimenting with PlayVR, a Virtual Reality Experience for the World of Theater. In Proceedings of the 12th Biannual Conference on Italian SIGCHI Chapter (Cagliari, Italy) (CHItaly ’17). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 16, 10 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3125571.3125596Google ScholarDigital Library
- Cristina Rottondi, Chris Chafe, Claudio Allocchio, and Augusto Sarti. 2016. An Overview on Networked Music Performance Technologies. IEEE Access 4(2016), 8823–8843. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2016.2628440Google ScholarCross Ref
- Mitsuki Shimada, Takayoshi Takano, Hiroshi Shigeno, and Ken-ichi Okada. 2016. Supporting Theatrical Performance Practice by Collaborating Real and Virtual Space. In Collaboration Technologies and Social Computing, Takashi Yoshino, Gwo-Dong Chen, Gustavo Zurita, Takaya Yuizono, Tomoo Inoue, and Nelson Baloian (Eds.). Springer Singapore, Singapore, 17–30.Google Scholar
- D. Strutt, A. Schlegel, N. Coghlan, C. Debaig, and Y. Friendred Peng. 2021. New Telematic Technologies for Remote Creation, Rehearsal and Performance of Choreographic Work. Journal of Embodied Research 4, 2 (Oct. 2021), 14–57). https://doi.org/10.16995/jer.82Google ScholarCross Ref
- Sam Tregillus, Majed Al Zayer, and Eelke Folmer. 2017. Handsfree Omnidirectional VR Navigation Using Head Tilt. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Denver, Colorado, USA) (CHI ’17). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 4063–4068. https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025521Google ScholarDigital Library
- Preston Tunnell Wilson, Kevin Nguyen, Alyssa Harris, and Betsy Williams. 2014. Walking in Place Using the Microsoft Kinect to Explore a Large VE. In Proceedings of the 13th ACM SIGGRAPH International Conference on Virtual-Reality Continuum and Its Applications in Industry (Shenzhen, China) (VRCAI ’14). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 27–33. https://doi.org/10.1145/2670473.2670492Google ScholarDigital Library
- Qiong Wu, Pierre Boulanger, Maryia Kazakevich, and Robyn Taylor. 2010. A Real-time Performance System for Virtual Theater. In Proceedings of the 2010 ACM Workshop on Surreal Media and Virtual Cloning (Firenze, Italy) (SMVC ’10). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 3–8. https://doi.org/10.1145/1878083.1878087Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Stage Together: Remote Rehearsal of Theater Blocking
Recommendations
VROOM: Virtual Robot Overlay for Online Meetings
CHI EA '20: Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsTelepresence robots allow users to freely explore a remote space and provide a physical embodiment in that space. However, they lack a compelling representation of the remote user in the local space. We present VROOM (Virtual Robot Overlay for Online ...
Exploring Audio, Visual, and Tactile Cues for Synchronous Remote Assistance
PETRA '18: Proceedings of the 11th PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments ConferenceToday, remote collaboration techniques between field workers and remotely located experts mainly focus on traditional communication channels, such as voice- or video-conferencing. Those systems may not be suitable in every situation or the communication ...
Wish You Were Here: Mental and Physiological Effects of Remote Music Collaboration in Mixed Reality
CHI '23: Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsWith face-to-face music collaboration being severely limited during the recent pandemic, mixed reality technologies and their potential to provide musicians a feeling of "being there" with their musical partner can offer tremendous opportunities. In ...
Comments