November / December 2005
Pioneering a new form of theatre - via videoconference
As global audiences tuned in to the annual Megaconference recently, one of the innovations they witnessed was a live performance involving actors from Waterloo, Ontario and Peoria, Illinois, interacting via videoconference and advanced networks.
"We are pioneering a new form of theatre," says Prof. Gerd Hauck of the University of Waterloo's Drama and Speech Communication Department, which is researching the use of advanced videoconference technology as a new medium to stage live, interactive theatrical performances, linking actors and sets from remote locations.
The December 6 cross-border performance, a 20-minute scene of August Strindberg's "A Dream Play", was connected via ORION, CA*net 4 and Internet2. Actors performed on stage in front of a live audience at the University of Waterloo, and interacted with actors broadcasted on a giant screen in real time from Bradley University in Peoria.
Although the actors had to deal with some latency issues during the Megaconference, the performance was a powerful demonstration of the potential of collaborative theatre, using advanced technology.
Audiences in Waterloo have already seen the possibilities of this new form of theatre. A first live performance was staged in April, with the Bradley and Waterloo actors staging a production of Samuel Beckett's "Catastrophe". What made the April performance unique, says Prof. Hauck, was having live audiences, as well as actors, in two locations interacting and experiencing the same play in a space that is both real and virtual.
His research is supported by some $240,000 in funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Ontario Innovation Trust and private donors. That allowed the installation of videoconference equipment and facilities at Waterloo, which includes cameras, several monitors, large screens, and Polycom units with web streaming and a full range of digital editing capabilities.
"The academic purpose is to introduce students to collaborating with partners in remote locations, teaching them to work with a 'mediatized' scene partner, and allowing them to explore the creative possibilities and shortfalls inherent in the medium of videoconferencing," he says.
An associate professor at Waterloo's Drama and Speech Communication Department, Prof. Hauck is a graduate of Heidelberg, Sussex, Cambridge Universities, as well as the University of Toronto. He has taught at universities on both sides of the Atlantic and has worked as an award-winning actor, director and host/producer of his own television show. His primary research area is theatre and the new media.
He and colleagues are now working on staging more complex productions, and pushing the limits of the technology, developing a major cross Atlantic performance involving collaborators in Ontario, Illinois, Florida and the U.K.
He is also consulting with engineers to develop devices to allow audiences to transmit instant reactions to virtual actors during the performances, including applause or boos.
Prof. Hauck hopes to identify more collaborators from Ontario, especially if they have access to the ORION network. "Eliminating bandwidth as a barrier certainly drives innovations in the way we can communicate with each other. We're using technology to create a new form of theatre, and having access to ORION makes that possible," he said.
Learn more about research in collaborative theatre at arts.uwaterloo.ca/arts/gradres/documents/June2005_000.pdf.
Also visit http://ccat.uwaterloo.ca/think/multipoint.html.
Photo: U of Waterloo actors Michelle Logan, John Trinh, Melissa Williamson and Sabina Medarevic. Photo by Robyn Joffe.
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