Emerging from the Dark Stage
[Music]
i began creating interactive virtual
worlds
back in the mid 90s at that point i
already had a strong background in
traditional narrative
and from that point on the dream of
converging
live performance with computational
power
to lift story up beyond its physical
limitations
beyond linear time
tangible objects that became my north
star
now to get there i would need to
navigate
quite a few different industries
i’d go from the tech industries to media
companies
software development companies
production houses
research for me all of these came
together with a very clear
understanding of what the future of
narrative looks like
i had a friend ask me with all that
bouncing around didn’t you feel kind of
lost
like a creator without a tribe
no i didn’t i never crossed my mind
professionally
i was always with my storytellers
whether we were working with programs or
performers or participants
i did however feel lost in my personal
life occasionally
you know searching for meaning not sure
where to go
and when that happened i wouldn’t put on
a virtual reality headset
i’d go to the theater
so in 2008 i found myself in a very
dark place in my life i was reeling from
an abusive marriage
my friends and family were scattered all
across the globe
i had a new baby
so on my first night out i went to the
theater
a black box theater in midtown manhattan
performing that night were broadway’s
understudy standbys and swings
they were doing pieces that they might
not ever get to play on stage
but in that theater they were filling it
with the most incredible talent
followed by the most horrific stories of
being booed on stage
missing choreography because they didn’t
have to have a chance to rehearse
i walked out of that theater into the
dark night but for me
it was a bright new world
i would spend the next four years
directing a documentary called the
standbys
i would spend many more years after that
navigating the new york city divorce
court system
takes a while to untangle ourselves from
the reality we
think we’ve built
i think that maybe theater finds itself
right now and not
quite so dissimilar a situation of
entanglement
business models built on
packed houses that now said empty actors
trained to perform for the back row
now at home the lights are dark
where is theater to go when it’s lost so
much
not necessarily because of outside
forces even maybe when we’re
searching for creative inspiration
where’s the light
three things happened in that when i
left that black box theater that night
three things that you can do right now
that do not
involve technology although i sincerely
believe
that today’s technology can be the light
for tomorrow’s theater
but these three things are diversify
your relationships
look to the future create something new
let’s take a look at each of those all
right so diversify your relationships
kindred spirits all over the world are
creating new types of story new types of
characters
they’re doing it in computational
academia where papers are flooding in
combining storytelling and ai
and frankly they need the bright minds
of broadway to figure out how to
actually do that
you might be familiar with the drama
departments of cmu usc
yale nyu did you know that they also
have
entertainment technology centers blended
reality labs future reality labs
academia for me is a bellwether you can
go there see what’s coming down the line
check out some of the prototypes see
what if what we can be excited about in
the future if anything we can use right
now
but even outside of academia when we
look at film festivals they are
featuring the new frontiers
social media is becoming the concert
houses
of yesterday and if you look at escape
rooms
they’re doing some really neat stuff
with narrative and game design
when we diversify our relationships we
build a support network so that when
things don’t work out the way that we
planned
maybe we have a new perspective on how
to move forward
look to the future right now our
audiences
are adapting technology at an
accelerated pace
grandparents that would normally be
sitting in the schubert or at home
becoming zoom pros and tick tock stars
the other night i was actually with a
couple hundred other people
navigating a virtual house with live
performers in it that were responding to
our chat commentary in real time
and my son who grew up on a healthy dose
of
soul-saving theater now has to
communicate with his friends
through devices and technology
the future might not look like the past
that’s okay
create something new you won’t be alone
in a galaxy far far away in orlando
florida
you can be part of the resistance or the
first order and that’ll change
your experience performers in france
are in motion capture suits becoming
animated characters and headsets
all across the world theaters in japan
motion track their dancers so that they
could in real time
perform with projected characters
through a game engine that was in the
theater
when we create something new something
awesome happens
when we take action
the darkness starts to fade away as we
build our new reality
and that shines the light for other
people to come with us
these three things might seem easy
but they’re deeply personal and yes
even the most formidable of institutions
can move on
marriage or broadway
now i have the most incredible partner
supportive empowering caring
my son is a funny
and kind teenager
and we have a new baby in our family
it’s my hope that tonight when i walk
out of this theater
it’s your turn to walk into a bright new
world
thank you