The Berry College Theatre Company will present a new form of theater tonight through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Sisters Theatre.
Interactive Cyber Theatre (ICT) is a new form of improvisation that integrates emerging theater technologies to allow audience members to direct long form improv performances in real time. Throughout the performance, there are no lines, only story objectives and the general notes necessary to accomplish them.
The Berry College Theater Company’s ICT production features scenarios that work to guide the overall direction of the story. The ICT troupe uses a website developed by Clinical Instructor of Creative Technologies Zane Cochran of Hackberry Labs to facilitate audience storytelling prompts.
At the beginning of each show, audience members will have the opportunity to use their personal devices to select the genre of the performance. Genre selections include drama, comedy, and supernatural scenarios. From there, prompts will appear regularly throughout the performance, allowing audience members to guide the plot in real-time. Audience selections are then relayed to actors on stage by the “Ghost”, the student crew member who duals performing the action on stage through their headsets.
“From a product development point of view, you could call this production a Beta Test which we'll use to determine the efficacy of the approach, and whether or not we'll want to continue developing the form,” Visiting Artist-in-Residence David Alford said.
Berry students Noah Isherwood, Sydney Muñoz, Lily Calhoun, and Halle Teague have served as the collective creative team for the project. Over the past two years, they have worked alongside Alford and the troupe to develop the project.
“Their enthusiasm for the project has been rewarding and humbling,” Alford said. “It's hard for me to imagine making the kind of progress we have without this particular group of students.”
This event is open to the public. Face masks and social distancing is required.
To purchase tickets for “For Better or For Worse”, visit https://www.onthestage.com/show/berry-college-theatre-company/for-better-or-for-worse-94684
For more information about the show, email the Berry College Theatre Company at bctc@berry.edu
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Written by Public Relations Student Assistant Faythe Choate
