Collider VR: Using Virtual Reality for Immersive Theatre and the Performing Arts

This MRP explores the future of immersive theatre in virtual reality by examining the production Collider VR as a case study, produced by Single Thread Theatre and presented at the 2021 Festival of Live Digital Art and the 2021 rEvolver Festival. Collider VR utilized concepts from traditional theatre-making and applied them in a virtual environment to investigate four specific research questions. First, the project explored the use of the avatar as mask and the possibilities of embodiment in virtual space with hand gesture and head control. Second, it examined the potential for an ensemble to move as a collective in virtual space, as a chorus, and the applicability of the concept of a coryphaeus in VR. Third, the project examines how the logic of vector math, necessary to the structure of a virtual setting, can become integrated into the rehearsal lexicon and what effects changes to the virtual world during a performance can have. Finally, Collider VR explores the audience experience of virtual space and how designers can incorporate realities of that usage into immersive design. In addition to documenting the process of producing Collider VR and the conclusions reached in each of these gyms, this paper will contextualize the use of virtual reality technology in theatrical performance over the technology’s history to better forecast the future of virtual theatre.