fbpx Digital Media and Technology | HowlRound Theatre Commons

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

Theatre By and For Gamers
Podcast
Theatre By and For Gamers
by Tjaša Ferme, Emma Bexell
14 March 2024
Aerial Performance in a Wheelchair 
Podcast
Aerial Performance in a Wheelchair 
by Tjaša Ferme, Laurel Lawson
7 March 2024
Gore and Myth in Theatre Mitu's (holy) BLOOD
Podcast
Gore and Myth in Theatre Mitu's (holy) BLOOD
by Tjaša Ferme, Rubén Polendo
29 February 2024
Waterfall Agile Poster.
Techne
Essay

Techne

Agile Theater Makers

17 January 2014

Speaking of centralized authority figures: we are also so accustomed to having the “initial creative impulse” of a play come from a playwright .... But given the core task of the role—establishing the high-level vision for a production—is there any reason why, say, a designer or actor couldn’t serve as a product owner? I mean… why should playwrights be the only theater artists who get to sit in the “big vision” chair? In an agile theater world, they wouldn’t.

Several actors onstage.
Live Cinema Performance Event of The Disinherited, Adapted from Chekhov's Platonov, Simulcast from The Kitchen in New York
Video

Live Cinema Performance Event of The Disinherited, Adapted from Chekhov's Platonov, Simulcast from The Kitchen in New York

Friday 10 January 2014
New York, NY, United States

The Kitchen presented The Disinherited: Live Cinema Performance Event livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Friday 10 January 2013 at 5 p.m. PST/ 7 p.m. CST/ 8 p.m. EST/ (1am GMT on Saturday 11 January) and again on Friday 17 January and Friday 24 January. In Twitter, use #howlround to comment and share and follow @HowlRoundTV for updates.

Techne
Essay

Techne

Siri, Fix Scene Two

21 December 2013

Every month, this column will investigate the ways in which technology can inspire us, transform us, and help us chart a new course in the 21st century. This edition, Gwydion Suilebhan talks about the pros and cons of new approaches to the way we write.

Graphic representing the internet.
Techne
Essay

Techne

Theater and the Internet

26 November 2013

Technology reflects and changes the ways in which we think.  We need to start telling more stories designed to accommodate our interactivity of the internet to grow with our audiences.

The Twitter logo.
The Weekly Howl on Twitter hashtag #newplay
Essay

The Weekly Howl on Twitter hashtag #newplay

The Internet + Audience Engagement

22 October 2013

This Thursday's topic will be: The Internet + Audience Engagement. How do your audiences continue their in-person experience on the internet? What are the in-person manifestations of your online engagement? Join us Thursday, October 24 for the Weekly Howl on hashtag #newplay at 11:00am PDT – 12pm PDT (Los Angeles) / 1:00pm CDT – 2pm CDT (Austin) / 2:00pm EDT – 3pm EDT (New York) / 18:00 GMT – 19:00 GMT / 7:00pm BST - 8pm BST (London) / 8:00pm CEST - 9pm CEST (Berlin).

Waterfall Agile Poster.
Techne
Essay

Techne

Goodbye Waterfall, Hello Agile

19 October 2013
Logo for Dramatists Guild.
Role of New Media in Contemporary Musical Theatre at Dramatists Guild
Video

Role of New Media in Contemporary Musical Theatre at Dramatists Guild

Tuesday 8 October 2013
New York, NY, United States

Dramatists Guild of America presented DG Conservatory: Behind the Music-al presents MuTube—The role of New Media in Contemporary Musical Theatre livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 8 October 2013 at 3 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 5 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 6 p.m. EDT (New York).

How May I Connect You? (Or, Scenes in a Key of D:\) by Project: Project
Video

How May I Connect You? (Or, Scenes in a Key of D:\) by Project: Project

29 September 2013
Boston, MA, United States

Project: Project, a Boston-based ensemble theatre company, explores our ever-changing relationship with technology. How May I Connect You? (Or, Scenes in a Key of D:\) was devised from interviews with people aged 17-70 and illuminates how technology has changed how we communicate and relate to one another. Originally produced on 29 September 2013. facebook.com/projectprojectboston@pp_boston.

Graphic that says Big Data.
Techne
Essay

Techne

Big Data

15 September 2013

Gwydion Suilebhan proposes the use of big data in season planning – what can we learn from companies like Netflix when it comes to making theater that will impact audiences and turn a profit?

Photo from Dead Art Star.
Bathaus, DEAD ART STAR and Abuse of the Document
Essay

Bathaus, DEAD ART STAR and Abuse of the Document

5 September 2013

Allison Vanouse writes about DEAD ART STAR at Bathaus, and how social media documentation interacts and intersects with performance art and its goals.

A Facebook post.
(Re)Search
Essay

(Re)Search

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Social Media

21 August 2013

(Re)Search is a six part series by Bree Windham a current graduate student in dramaturgy. It details her experiences as a young dramaturg navigating different resources and the ways she has come utilize them through trial, error, and advice from others.

A television.
Techne
Essay

Techne

Content Providers

18 August 2013

How does technology inspire us, transform us, and help us chart a new course in the 21st century.  This installment follows the story of Erol Onaran's growth from a television repariman to millionaire.

A card with directions on it.
Long Distance Affair
Essay

Long Distance Affair

Interview with Team Singapore

14 August 2013

An interview with Team Singapore about their experience creating theatre that crosses borders through technology and how theatre can change the audience experience through it.

Photo from Push The Button.
My Long Distance Affair
Essay

My Long Distance Affair

Making Push the Button

13 August 2013

With one actor playing to one audience member, Garret Jon Groenvelt sought to create a play that entices the audience member to interact with the material.

Photo from A Long Distance Affair.
Interview with Ana Margineanu & Tamilla Woodard
Essay

Interview with Ana Margineanu & Tamilla Woodard

12 August 2013

Ana Margineanu and Tamilla Woodard talk about how Skype is changing not only the creative experience for artists but also how and where audiences participate in theatre.

The Twitter logo.
Weekly Howl on Twitter hashtag #newplay
Essay

Weekly Howl on Twitter hashtag #newplay

Technology is transforming the practice of theater. How can we invite technological change and not lose our way?—Thurs, July 11

9 July 2013

This week's topic is: "Technology is transforming the practice of theater. How can we invite technological change and not lose our way?"

Photo from Eternal Thou.
Dispatches from LALA Land
Essay

Dispatches from LALA Land

Adventures in the OC

2 July 2013

In the land of film and technology, LA pushes theatre to innovate the theatrical definition of reality.

The Twitter logo.
Weekly Howl on Twitter hashtag #newplay
Essay

Weekly Howl on Twitter hashtag #newplay

"Impact of the Internet on Artistic Legitimacy, Prestige, Status"—Thurs, June 27

24 June 2013

This week's topic is: "Artistic Legitimacy, Prestige, Status & How It is Changing". What are the social dynamics that impact the lives of artists, organizations, and their work? Are they changing in the 21st Century?

The Hybrid Art Summit in Austin, Texas
Video

The Hybrid Art Summit in Austin, Texas

Friday 4 May and Saturday 5 May 2012
Austin, TX, United States

The Hybrid Art Summit 2012 events at the Fusebox Festival in Austin, Texas were livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv Friday 4 May and Saturday 5 May 2012.

The letter H stylized as Howlround's original logo.
The Weekly Howl Tues, April 3
Essay

The Weekly Howl Tues, April 3

Social Media and the Future of Arts Journalism

3 April 2012

Join us for the Weekly Howl on the impact of social media on the future of arts criticism.

A large office building with a sign that says Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center.
Cyber-Narratives
Essay

Cyber-Narratives

An Invitation that will Blow Your Mind

21 February 2012

Woolly Mammoth's Miriam Weisfield introduces us to The Carnegie Mellon Entertainment Technology Center, an exciting new iniative where technology and playwriting team up to engage audiences in ways never before seen.

#NEWPLAY Video
Video

#NEWPLAY Video

"Put the Hashtag in the Coconut"

27 January 2012
Washington, D.C., United States

A message from the HowlRound team.

#NEWPLAY TV
Video

#NEWPLAY TV

@upnextbayarea blogs about "Theatre via Livestream"

12 January 2012
Washington, D.C., United States

Two teens converse about #NEWPLAY TV, the #newplay initiative

Commons Projects
Essay

Commons Projects

14 December 2011
A man and a woman look at each other and read from a script.
Adventures in Cyberturgy
Essay

Adventures in Cyberturgy

14 September 2011

Playwright Anne García-Romero writes about the LoNyLa Writers Lab, which uses live video streaming to facilitate script development workshops for one play, in three cities.