AI, AR, and VR in Theatre and Performance: Technology in the Present and Future of Live Creative Arts

AI, AR, and VR in Theatre and Performance investigates the cutting-edge application of evolving digital technologies within the creative industries, with a focus on theatre and the dramatic arts.

Grounded in a practice-based approach, this book explores the experiences of creatives, producers, and IT-specialist content creators employing artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) technologies. A series of international case studies are presented, demonstrating current techno-infused practices, as well as potential futures for these technologies within the broadest of creative contexts. Framed by a rigorous ethnodramatic methodological approach, the book examines the practical applications of contemporary digital technologies in theatre and other live performance settings and provides a scaffolding framework for readers to adopt in their own practice. It also proposes groundbreaking ideas for the classification of how AI may be used in current and future artistic practices, the ‘three Cs of AI,’ and introduces the concept of Communal Augmented Reality – Live (CARL) as the most likely form to advance the incorporation of emerging technologies onto the live stage. The works of Belgium’s VR immersive experiences company CREW, Singapore-based film and visual artist Ho Tzu Nyen, and the Tamil language theatre company AGAM Theatre Lab are detailed alongside the world-first application of AR holographic technology in Australia, before unpacking the pioneering advancements in algorithmic and AI theatre of America’s Annie Dorsen.

With a practice-based, artist-led perspective and contributions from technologists, this book offers a comprehensive and accessible resource that will appeal to a diverse audience of artists, academics, students, practitioners, creative engineers/content creators, animators, and theorists with an interest in the relationship between digital technologies and live performance.

Shane Pike, PhD, is a senior lecturer in the School of Creative Arts at the Queensland University of Technology. An award-winning producer, writer, and director of theatre, his most recent works fuse traditional practices with emerging technologies. He is also a Chief Investigator on the Australian Research Council-funded project Advancing Digital Innovation in the Australian Live Performance Sector, partnering with Australia’s leading performing arts institutions to develop sustainable digital strategies for the future of live arts.