philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

On Board, A Collection Of Virtual Reality Performances Brings Indie Xr Artists Together In One Evening

On the one year anniversary of the global shutdown of the entertainment industry, Active Replica and The Jigsaw Ensemble present ON BOARD: An Evening of Short XR Performances produced, rehearsed, and performed entirely in web-based virtual reality, demonstrating several different forms and styles of fully-immersive, virtual theater production.

Audience members can attend using their computers, phones, tablets, or virtual reality headset. Once they've logged in, they'll find themselves in a virtual lobby where they'll be met by the house managers, who help them "on board" a virtual cruise ship in-character as pirates and yacht bros. Changing scenery and costumes with the click of a button, the audience journeys through a "dark ride" of short performances created by different artists around the world, each with their own unique approach to interactive technology and storytelling through theater, improvisation, and dance. The evening ends on a deserted island, allowing the audience to enjoy a post-show sunset while they discuss their reactions and feedback.

The evening will include actors performing as virtual reality avatars, dancing live-streamed into a 3D world, a play written byOpen AI's GPT-3 a chatbot, an interactive scavenger hunt to immerse the audience the narrative, and music generated on the spot using artificial intelligence.

Limited performances will be:

Tuesday, March 16th and Wednesday March 17th at 5pm EST

Friday, March 19th at 3:30pm EST

Tickets are free, though seating is limited due to server load.

Reserve your virtual seat at: https://www.TheaterFestival.online

See the full story here: https://www.broadwayworld.com/brooklyn/article/On-Board-A-Collection-Of-Virtual-Reality-Performances-Brings-Indie-Xr-Artists-Together-In-One-Evening-20210306