Digital Media and Technology

Digital media and technology are ever-evolving, and so is their relationship to theatre. In this section, you can learn about how theatremakers are incorporating media and tech into their art-making and career-building, as well as read New Crit pieces about work created to be shared online. Two interesting series to explore for a sense of how quickly the conversations change are Gwydion Suilebhan’s Techne—essays written in 2013 and 2014—and Performing the Internet, curated by Kate Bergstrom in January 2021. Check out content from the 2019 Digital + Performance Convening for a multifaceted look at this topic!

The Latest

Livestreaming a Convening: CultureHub Belgrade

Video

Livestreaming a Convening: CultureHub Belgrade

Centering around the theme Solidarity: Digital Strategies for Creative Resilience

Thursday 1 July to Saturday 3 July 2021

Belgrade, Serbia

Livestreaming a Performance: Tilos az abadság - F* Ree Artists / New Year's Eve Revue

Video

Livestreaming a Performance: Tilos az abadság - F* Ree Artists / New Year's Eve Revue

GHOST HOURS OF FREE ART livestreaming from the glorious halls of the Hungarian Metal Workers' Union in Budapest

Thursday 24 June 2021

Hungary

When Theatre Will Become Fully Itself: Digital Supratheatre and the Fight for an Inclusive Future

Essay

When Theatre Will Become Fully Itself: Digital Supratheatre and the Fight for an Inclusive Future

Translated by Cecilia Laslo

by Mihaela Drăgan

25 May 2021

blue event poster for culture hub belgrade convening.

Livestreaming a Convening: CultureHub Belgrade

CultureHub

Video

Livestreaming a Convening: CultureHub Belgrade

Centering around the theme Solidarity: Digital Strategies for Creative Resilience

Thursday 1 July to Saturday 3 July 2021

Belgrade, Serbia

CultureHub presents the CultureHub Belgrade Convening livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Thursday 1 July to Saturday 3 July 2021.

actors in office attire perform with actor in green screen suit onstage.

Livestreaming a Performance: Tilos az abadság - F* Ree Artists / New Year's Eve Revue

TV Free Europe / Szabad Európa TV

Video

Livestreaming a Performance: Tilos az abadság - F Ree Artists / New Year's Eve Revue*

GHOST HOURS OF FREE ART livestreaming from the glorious halls of the Hungarian Metal Workers' Union in Budapest

Thursday 24 June 2021

Hungary

TV Free Europe presents Tilos az abadság - F* Ree Artists / New Year's Eve Revue livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 24 June 2021 at 1 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 6 p.m. BST (London, UTC+1) / 19:00 CET (Budapest, UTC +2).

Illustration by Silent Fox, inspired by the essay.

When Theatre Will Become Fully Itself: Digital Supratheatre and the Fight for an Inclusive Future

Mihaela

Drăgan

Essay

When Theatre Will Become Fully Itself: Digital Supratheatre and the Fight for an Inclusive Future

Translated by Cecilia Laslo

25 May 2021

Mihaela Drăgan introduces digital supratheatre—a theatre of the future with two underlying principles: technological change and social change.

A map with two-faced performing arts symbols located within the US and in northwestern Europe.

Taking Rural Playwriting International

Jacob

Juntunen

Essay

Taking Rural Playwriting International

20 May 2021

Jacob Juntunen shares how the MFA playwriting program at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale adapted their new play festival for the online world and how open-access software and streaming platforms helped students at the rural school transcend geography.

Image of group of people marching in streets in Malawi

What Is the Way Forward for Theatre in Malawi, During and After the Pandemic?

Misheck

Mzumara

Essay

What Is the Way Forward for Theatre in Malawi, During and After the Pandemic?

4 May 2021

Misheck Mzumara looks at the way the COVID-19 pandemic has affected theatre in Malawi and thinks through what comes next.

six performers on a stage with watery blue silks

Learning from the Leaders

Luane

Davis Haggerty

Essay

Learning from the Leaders

Deaf Theatre Innovations in the Time of COVID-19

3 May 2021

Luane Davis Haggerty shares successes, learnings, and innovations from the Deaf theatre community over the past year of pandemic performance.

brightly colored graphic of person surrounded by objects against a blue background.

Odes for a World in Search of Joy

CultureHub

Video

Odes for a World in Search of Joy

Inspired by Pablo Neruda’s Odes to Common Things

Saturday 1 May 2021

United States

CultureHub presented a performance of Odes for a World in Search of Joy livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 1 May 2021 at 5 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

arms covered in paint reaching toward a person looking down.

Downtown Variety: Kenya Edition

CultureHub

La MaMa

Video

Downtown Variety: Kenya Edition

Bringing La MaMa's 1960s café aesthetic to a virtual platform that links performers and audiences in real time across distance

Friday 30 April 2021

Kenya

La MaMa and CultureHub presented Downtown Variety: Kenya Edition livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 30 April 2021 at 9 a.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 11 a.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 12 p.m. PDT (New York, UTC -4) / 7 p.m. EAT (Nairobi, UTC +3).

event poster with text for unrehearsed futures episode four.

Unrehearsed Futures: Theatre Making

Drama School Mumbai

Embodied Poetics

CTDPS, Cape Town

Video

Unrehearsed Futures: Theatre Making

Episode 4: Transference and Transposition - Notes from across the boundaries of the original medium

Thursday 29 April 2021

South Africa

Presenting Unrehearsed Futures: Theatre Making livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday 29 April 2021 at 5 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 10 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 11 a.m. SAST (Cape Town, UTC +2) / 2:30 p.m. IST (Mumbai, UTC +5:30) / 7 p.m. AEST (Hobart, UTC +10).

person in orange sweater writing in a notebook.

Negotiating Quotidian: Performing the Everyday

Segal

Center

Ph.D. Program in Theatre and Performance, The Graduate Center, City University of New York”

Video

Negotiating Quotidian: Performing the Everyday

Investigating how performing the everyday has recently changed our perception of and experience in theatre and performance

Wednesday 28 April and Thursday 29 April 2021

United States

The Ph.D. Program in Theatre and Performance, The Graduate Center, City University of New York presented Negotiating Quotidian: Performing the Everyday livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 28 April and Thursday 29 April 2021.

event poster with text for unrehearsed futures episode 3.

Unrehearsed Futures: The Many Lives of Red Peter

Drama School Mumbai

Embodied Poetics

CTDPS, Cape Town

Video

Unrehearsed Futures: The Many Lives of Red Peter

Episode 3: On Theatre Making (it), before and after the pandemic

Thursday 22 April 2021

South Africa

Unrehearsed Futures: The Many Lives of Red Peter livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Thursday 22 April 2021 at 4 a.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / 9 a.m. BST (London, UTC +1) / 10 a.m. SAST (Cape Town, UTC +2) / 1:30 p.m. IST (Mumbai, UTC +5:30) / 6 p.m. AEST (Hobart, UTC +10).

Footnote 3. An image of a door that opens up and allows a green galaxy of starts to pour through it. The door is on a wall of coding.

A Love Letter to Voyeuristic, Imaginative Acts

Aly

Perry

Essay

A Love Letter to Voyeuristic, Imaginative Acts

600 Highwaymen’s A Thousand Ways (Part One: A Phone Call)

22 April 2021

Aly Perry shares her experience of transformative public intimacy in 600 Highwaymen’s recent immersive show.

artist headshots on green background with white event text.

Welcome to Our Space

red background with rising sun graphic and white aurora theater text

Aurora Theatre Company

Video

Welcome to Our Space

Audience Experiences in Virtual Spaces

Thursday 15 April 2021

United States

Aurora Theatre presented the conversation Welcome to Our Space: Audience Experiences in Virtual Spaces livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Thursday 15 April 2021 at 5 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 7 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 8 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

zoom windows of artists performing in their homes.

Sonic Gathering In Person

CultureHub

Video

Sonic Gathering In Person

Featuring a rotating cast of dancers and musicians presenting new collaborative work of movement and sound

Wednesday 7 April 2021

United States

CultureHub presented Sonic Gathering In Person with Re-Fest livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 7 April 2021 at 3 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

black and white photos of artists in zoom window boxes.

Virtual Translation: Bringing Piehole's Disclaimer to Zoom

Piehole

Video

Virtual Translation: Bringing Piehole's Disclaimer to Zoom

Join Piehole members for a (free) technical skill-share and discussion on adaptation across mediums

Monday 29 March 2021

United States

Piehole presented Virtual Translation: Bringing Piehole's Disclaimer to Zoom livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Monday 29 March 2021 at 3 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4).

Downtown Variety: SeoulArts Edition

CultureHub

La MaMa

Video

Downtown Variety: SeoulArts Edition

Bringing La MaMa's 1960s café aesthetic to a virtual platform that links performers and audiences in real time across distance

Friday 26 March 2021

Seoul, Korea

La MaMa and CultureHub presented Downtown Variety: SeoulArts Edition livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 26 February 2021 at 6 p.m. PDT (San Francisco, UTC -7) / 8 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC -5) / 9 p.m. EDT (New York, UTC -4) / Saturday 27 February 2021 at 10 a.m. KST (Seoul, UTC +9).

Adapting to Pandemic Regulations

Merve

Parla

Essay

Adapting to Pandemic Regulations

A New Way of Performance Watching for an Old Classic

4 March 2021

Merve Parla shares her experience with Netherlands-based dance company Club Guy & Roni’s recent production of Swan Lake, an interactive experience with both offline and online components.

The Technological Theatre Experimenters

Jared

Mezzocchi

Essay

The Technological Theatre Experimenters

18 February 2021

In envisioning of the future, Jared Mezzocchi begins by questioning: “What if theatre’s identity is not lost in the digital, but instead is enhanced in it?”

Level Up: The Dramaturgy of Digital Performance and Design

Associated Designers of Canada

Toasterlab

Video

Level Up: The Dramaturgy of Digital Performance and Design

Engaging in meaningful conversations on digital tools in live performance

Monday 18 January - Saturday 13 February 2021

Canada

Associated Designers of Canada and ToasterLab presented the symposium Level Up: The Dramaturgy of Digital Performance and Design livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv from Monday 18 January to Saturday 13 February 2021.

Alternate World Design During the Pandemic and Beyond

Essay

Alternate World Design During the Pandemic and Beyond

11 February 2021

Heidi Coleman and Patrick Jagoda discuss alternate reality games (ARG) as a means of motivating audiences to take action, what goes into creating ARGs, game-based improvisation, and more.

episode five claudia alick calling up justice

Claudia Alick and Calling Up Justice

Podcast

Claudia Alick and Calling Up Justice

Building Our Own Tables Episode #5

27 January 2021

During this episode of Building Our Own Tables, podcast host Yura Sapi talks with Claudia Alick, founding executive producer of the transmedia social justice company Calling Up Justice.

Whose America and Whose Dreams?

Essay

Whose America and Whose Dreams?

26 January 2021

Zeina Salame sits down for a conversation with Leila Buck and Tamilla Woodard to talk about their most recent creative collaboration, American Dreams, online audience interaction, and more.

Downtown Variety: Take 17

CultureHub

La MaMa

Video

Downtown Variety: Take 17

Bringing La MaMa's 1960s café aesthetic to a virtual platform that links performers and audiences in real time across distance

Friday 22 January 2021

United States

La MaMa and CultureHub presented Downtown Variety: Take 17 livestreaming on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 22 January 2020 at 4 p.m. PST (San Francisco, UTC -8) / 6 p.m. CST (Chicago, UTC -6) / 7 p.m. EST (New York, UTC -5).

Sometimes the Best Technology is Relationships

Essay

Sometimes the Best Technology is Relationships

A Conversation with Complex Movements

15 January 2021

In the last conversation of the Performing the Internet series, curator Kate Bergstrom sits down with three members of the Detroit-based artist-activist collective Complex Movements—Sage Crump, ill weaver, Wes Taylor—to talk about intentional engagement in a virtual world.

Write the Software and Let the World Have It

Essay

Write the Software and Let the World Have It

Forty Years of Internet Performance

14 January 2021

In this article for the Performing the Internet series, Miller Puckette and Onyx Ashanti get together for a conversation about the changing landscape of multimedia technology in the arts, how technologically mediated performance practices have taken on new relevance in the post-COVID era, and more.