The Situation:

Part of my Masters in Fine Arts program required one group project, for which I worked on a group of 8 people which included two musicians, one classical Greek theater expert, one programmer, one social media miscreant, one experimental theater director, one lighting specialist, and myself. We had one year to produce a performative project that would showcase the Digital Arts & New Media department to the entire Santa Cruz community, and push the boundaries of the experimental work being done by the theater department. 

 

The Process:

Our team met weekly to discuss our vision for the production. In our many brainstorming sessions, we came up with two principle directives that we, diverse group that we were, wanted to achieve: we wanted to tell a story, and we wanted to provide a fully-immersive experience which would break the mold. 

 

“To both tell a story and provide an experience, we decided to include both linear and non-linear elements, in harmony.”

 

We came up with a very unorthodox proposition: start out the performance as a walk-through carnival of wonders, in which the audience was free to explore at will a variety of small performance zones. Then, proceed to start a story, directing the audience to flow through the space and watch events in these zones in a series. The event was heralded as a completely unique experience and a transitional moment in the history of the Theater Department.

 

I collaborated with musicians, dancers, choreographers and directors to produce audio-visual installations infused with performance narratives. The “text dance” included an animated character which interacted with a real-world dancer in the space. The “gears dance” was a 3D-modeled animated series of gears, with which a mechanical dance was enacted by a group of 4 dancers. I also modeled some of the props for the environment, designed paper brochures to be handed out before and during the experience, and assisted in script writing.

 

Stop the Press was performed at UCSC in 2010. It was called a death-knell or dirge for the Newspaper, a reflection on the turning of the tide from print to digital material and what it means for storytellers everywhere. 

 

 

 

UCSC Theater Dept Article

Review by Theater Arts

Digital Arts Masters Program Write-Up