I've been lurking on this list since its inception and have been fascinated
by the discussion and ideas that have been circulating. Allow me to
introduce myself. My name is Nina LeNoir and I'm an assistant professor of
theatre, specializing in directing, at Bradley University in Illinois. I
am also working on my dissertation on performance and cyberspace. I have
hesitated becoming involved, as I've only recently begun my first teaching
job, and have been overwhelmed with all of the demands that entails.
I have a question about the audience that, from reading the posts and the
home page, is not clear (perhaps I just missed it? :> ) Who and where is
the audience? Are there live people at each site? Is the audience only
on-line? Can audience members interact with each other at all? (If live,
obviously they can--although one audience may not be able to interact with
another). If only on-line, can they communicate with each other, for
instance, through the chat screen of CUSEEME?
I guess what I am wondering is what is the difference between watching this
performance on screen and watching it on television, in terms of the
audience experience? I don't know whether or not the audience needs to
interact with the performance and actually play a role, but somehow I think
that there should be some interactive component, if the audience is
watching via the internet. The on-line performances I've watched without
an ability to interact, at least with other audience members, have been
somewhat flat and uninteresting.
>Do we want the audience to be the gods or do we want "us" to be the gods?
>
>As I see our project now, for me it is too komplex to experiment with the
>audience to much. that was what i meant to let the technicians be the gods.
>Because they do have to keep the control during the ongoing of the play.
>
>I would like to have the concentration of the project on the fist hand on
>the communication between the real actors and virtual actors - that means
>the ongoing on the stage.
I think the audience is always in control, since they can always turn the
performance off, or leave. I would worry if there is no concentration on
the audience, for without an audience is there really a performance? Of
course, it can be argued that the other actors are also a form of audience.
The director in me keeps wondering what the audience experience is going to
be. What will they get from attending?
It is a fascinating project and I second Monika's "laudatio for the
creativity."
Regards,
Nina LeNoir
Bradley University