VR/AR ASSOCIATION NYC CHAPTER PRESENTS: XR IN THEATRE: IMMERSING NEW AUDIENCES
Hosted by Alley, Powered by Verizon
119 West 24th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues), 2nd Floor New York, NY
OVERVIEW
The past five years have seen groundbreaking production of theatre and opera that have integrated augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) – or, as the industry term refers to all types of immersive technology, XR – to develop new kinds of live and virtual experiences. The Welsh National Opera, in 2017, combined ‘The Magic Flute’ and ‘Madam Butterfly’ for ‘Magic Butterfly,’ an experience that used Google Daydream VR to demystify opera for audiences, in a new venue. Commonwealth Shakespeare Company produced ‘Hamlet 360: Thy Father’s Spirit’ in the past year, working with Google’s AR/VR Lens team to create five 7-minute acts in VR.
Yet, some of the boldest work in XR for theatre is not surprisingly being produced in New York. In this event, sponsored by the VR AR Association New York Chapter and Verizon’s 5G Lab, some of the leading practitioners of XR in the theatre world will talk about their work and their platform and technology choices, as well as how to shape narratives for interactive audiences in real-time experiences. A panel discussion will convene after four separate presentations; VR and AR demonstrations will precede and proceed the main event. As special additions to the event, a representative from Verizon’s 5G Lab will discuss the company’s progress in lighting 5G venues and the company’s 5G storytelling initiative, and a representative of award-winning XR production firm Felix & Paul Studios will demonstrate some of their recent work.
SPEAKERS
Kiira Benzing, Brandon Powers, Maciej Wisniewski, David Rodriguez
Moderated by Chris Pfaff
