Playable Theater and Transmedia Games

(MADD 20750)

Over the 21st century, the internet has shifted from an information exchange platform to a performance medium. Especially following the pandemic, the landscape of live performance and interactive art has also changed. This course invites directors, designers, performers, and writers to explore theater experiments in digital and networked environments. The term “playable theater” highlights a new constellation of participatory, interactive, immersive, site-specific, and technologically-augmented performance events in which audiences have substantial agency and can actively influence elements or outcomes of a performance. Together, we will examine the transition from traditional stage performance to interactive online experiences, highlighting the potential of various forms such as netprov, alternate reality games (ARGs), online live-action role-playing (LARPs), live-streaming performance, interactive theater, and even video games. By integrating popular social media platforms, from Instagram to TikTok, students will push the boundaries of storytelling and audience engagement. Students will engage in a series of hands-on workshops, lectures, and design sprints as well conversations with guest artists. Work will involve short-form, interactive original works shifting between in-person and online platforms. No prior experience with coding or video production is required, making this course accessible to all creative and collaborative minds.