Chris Pfaff produced and moderated the ‘Virtual Theatre: The Metaverse Smashes the Four Walls’ panel at the VR AR Global Summit Online, Europe, on Friday, October 1, 2021, with some of the leading producers of virtual theatre and dance:

– Lorne Svarc, CEO/artistic director, Technodramatists

– Kiira Benzing, director/producer, Double Eye Studios

– Brandon Powers, creative director/choreographer, Brandon Powers Projects

– Blair Russell, theatre producer, Blair Russell Productions/producer, Crux

This panel discussed the emergence of XR theatre production, including VR and AR integration with narrative original and adaptive works, as well as how to blend XR technologies with live and virtual audiences. The theatre world has developed communities for live, virtual productions that will continue to evolve as the COVID-19 pandemic rages.

The full panel can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/VctoD3e-qAc

Kiira Benzing (upper left); Brandon Powers (upper middle); Blair Russell (upper right); Lorne Svarc (lower left), Chris Pfaff (lower right)

Brandon Powers shows off virtual choreography

Kiira Benzing discusses her Virtual Repertory Theatre

Blair Russell shows off recent work

Lorne Svarc discusses Technodramatists’ work

Lorne Svarc shows off some of Technodramatists’ landmark ‘AliBi’ production

Chris Pfaff produced and moderated the ‘Virtual Theatre: The Metaverse Smashes the Four Walls’ session at the VR AR Global Summit Online North America on June 3, 2021, featuring some of the leading producers of immersive theatre and dance, including: Kiira Benzing, from Double Eye Studios; Blair Russell, from Crux; Brandon Powers, from Brandon Powers Projects, and Lorne Svarc, from Technodramatists.

You can view the entire session at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQdKsKS3qnw

The panel discussed the emergence of XR theatre production, including VR and AR integration with narrative original and adaptive works, as well as how to blend XR technologies with live and virtual audiences.

Kiira Benzing (upper left); Brandon Powers (upper middle); Blair Russell (upper right); Lorne Svarc (lower left), Chris Pfaff (lower right)

Brandon Powers shows some of ‘Queer Skins’

Kiira Benzing shows off some of ‘Finding Pandora X’

Blair Russell demos new work

Lorne Svarc demos new work

Lorne Svarc shows some of ‘AliBi’

Blair Russell introduces a new virtual world

The virtual theatre universe was rocked on Saturday, February 6, 2021, when AliBi, Technodramatist’s “reality-bending livestream theater experience,” brought together an audience of more than 90 people on Zoom, while streaming live from the Gene Frankel Theatre in downtown Manhattan. The adaption of Tristen Tzara’s Dadaist play ‘Handkerchief of Clouds’ immersed the audience in a love triangle. A private investigator uses augmented reality, motion capture and voice recognition software to solve the homicide of one of the lovers, while suspects attept to dance their way out of trouble. The performance mixed live effects with live music and dance in a brilliant, original production. Created by Lorne Svarc, artistic director for Technodramatists, and directed by Brian Rardin, the show feature Grammy Award-winning experimental musician Johnny Butler with choregrapher duo AnA Collaborations. Butler stars with Alex Jenkins and Nick Anselmo and features Anne Bates as Alison Bi. Lead technologist Yashwanth Irragatappu, virtual and physical set designer Yichan Wang, lead designer Min Kawk and technical director Hy Braverman delivered a seamless live and virtual production. Long before any theatre productions returned to New York stages, Technodramatists made a mark on 2021 with ‘AliBi.’