Examining the use of theatrical technologies in creating an immersive Micro-Scene: Technical Theatre and Production Design: In Immersive Theatre

Technical theatre and production arts is growing rapidly. Now, students in lighting, sound, scenography and production support courses can spend their whole career exploring just one genre of theatre. This book explores how technical theatre - both artistic design and technical functionality - can be used within the field of immersive theatre. Specifically, it explores the notions of interactivity and engagement from a purely production point of view: we know that production design and theatrical technologies can add significant value to a piece of immersive theatre, but can they replace actors? Can we immerse audiences into a world not of their own, only or primarily using technology?This book focuses on a research project carried out during 2011 and 2012 in Manchester, UK, set up to answer these questions. The centrepiece was a piece of theatre based around the World Trade Centre attacks in New York City in 2001 - the event was staged in the year of the 10th anniversary of these attacks.This is a must-read for technical theatre academics, students of IB theatre, technical theatre, production arts or a specific technical discipline: methods of lighting design, sound design and set design are all covered here, as is discussion on the use of projection and video. Students will appreciate the rich source of references cited from a wide range of experts. For directors and practitioners of immersive theatre, this book contains a range of discussion and observation of the genre from a non-technical angle: confronting issues surrounding immersion versus interactivity, audience suspension of disbelief, and how to navigate a devising process with inexperienced actors.