{"id":449,"date":"2022-02-27T15:00:26","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T20:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/62-830\/s2022\/?p=449"},"modified":"2022-03-02T13:50:56","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T18:50:56","slug":"how-vr-theater-changes-the-audience-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/62-830\/s2022\/?p=449","title":{"rendered":"How VR Theater Changes the Audience Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VR has been around for a long time<\/a>, and many different industries have adopted it as a tool. As it’s made its way into the performing arts space, theater has used it to enhance what’s being presented onstage. Thus, a whole new branch of theater has emerged, with a very different audience experience from ‘typical,’ non-VR enhanced productions. How does this new form of engaging with theater change the audience’s experience? Are audiences more engaged, or more impacted by what they experience in VR than what they would see in a typical theater setting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VR PRIMER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virtual reality<\/a>, or VR, creates a simulated environment where the user is immersed in a reality other than their own. They can interact with this artificial 3D environment, and in current VR experiences the environment adjusts to the user’s movement to visually change, just like perception changes in real life when looking in different directions or moving around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although commonly thought of as a 21st-century invention, VR can be traced back<\/a> to 1838 when Sir Charles Wheatstone created a stereoscope, using mirrors to create a 3D viewing experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VR is most often presented with goggles the user wears to be immersed in the simulated environment. These range from cardboard models used in tandem with a smartphone, to large headsets that contain speakers for additional auditory immersion. Many are used with some kind of gloves or hand controllers so hand movements are captured in addition to head movements. The Oculus 2 headset, by Meta (formerly Facebook), was the bestselling VR headset<\/a> in 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VR has many applications in a variety of fields. Video games is one of the most popular applications, putting gamers in the middle of the action. Training is another use case–Walmart famously uses VR to train its HR Associates<\/a>, as it provides a hands-on experience instead of learning something by reading. It has also found a place in therapy as PTSD patients use VR as a form of exposure therapy<\/a>. The arts have more recently leveraged VR as a tool to enhance their practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Figure 1: Scene from “Hamlet 360” presented in VR by Commonwealth Shakespeare Company | Source: American Theatre<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

PRECURSOR: IMMERSIVE THEATER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before VR made it to the theater world, immersive theater gained popularity over the past decade<\/a> with productions like Sleep No More <\/em>(Punchdrunk Theater<\/a>) leading the charge. Immersive theater brings the audience into the action; instead of being distanced from actors and sets by a divide between stage and seats, the production is taking place around the audience with no distance barrier. This immersive experience helps introduce more sensory experiences for the audience, with senses of “real space,” time, and movement<\/a>. By having more senses activated, audiences are more engaged and have stronger ties<\/a> to what they’re experiencing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also an element of engaging directly with actors in the immersive theater space. In a typical theater setting, an audience member is sitting and watching a stage, akin to watching a screen. There is no direct human interaction, just human perception. When immersion is layered on and an audience member can interact with an actor, even talk to them in many cases, their human hardwiring<\/a> for social interaction is activated, and the experience becomes more intimate and engaging. Instead of narrowing an audience’s world to what’s onstage, this expands their worlds<\/a> by layering elements on top of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immersive theater is successful in heightening audience experience without the assistance of VR. However, VR amps up the engagement and emotion to bring the benefits of immersion to the next level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VR IMMERSION & EMOTIONAL RESPONSE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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