Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1996 - 43

their fears and fantasies through intelior
monologues. When Zero was called to the

~~~~~~~~~

Boss' office and fired, the live TV image of the
For each projector, a pair of hOlizontally
mounted mirrors was used to intercept
one half of the projected stereographic image (one eye's \~ew) and bend it il1\\'ard,
overlapping the other half. \X1len each half
of the stereo image was polaJized appropriately, the audience saw a 3-D image.
Sound was also run with computers
located in Mission Control. While the
show's relatively simple sound plot could
have been run {rom the theatre's existing
sound facilities, it was decided to remain
faithful to the computer generated nat1ll'e
of the \~rtual el1\~ronments. AMac LC was
used to run background music {rom a
digital CD-ROM, and a Mac PowerBook
was used 10 play the few spot sound effects
used in the play. Microphones in the offstage TV studio and sound outputs from
tile computers were connected to a small
mixer which was connected in turn to tile
house sound system. Special speakers
were mounted in tile front of tile playing
platform at floor level.

VIRTUAL THEATRICALITY
The auclience, weaJ'ing polarized glasses,
was seated in the darkened stage house
and surrounded on three sides by black
velour. Before them stood a platform, cov-

A giant Boss fires Zero

Boss was inserted into the virtual world of the
office. In one of the most impressive scenes
in the play, the video image of the Boss towered high above Zero (Figure 7) and then
zoomed in onto the Boss' face as Zero was
fired (Figure 8). The murder of the Boss by
Zero was only hinted at in the action and it
was in the third scene, when Zero returned
home to the supper party for Mr. and Mrs.
One tln-ough Six, that we learned that Zero
had killed the Boss. The virtual world of the
supper party was distorted and shifting and
the live TV images of tlle non-stop-talking
heads of Mr. and Mrs. One through Six (the
twelve roles were played by only two actors)
were inserted randomly into the virtual world
(Figure 9). The trial scene which followed
and tlle prison scene immediately after both

ered witil a black caJ'jlet. Immediately behind the platform, a black reaJ'-projection
screen hung, flat in the center, but angled
toward tile audience as it extended {rom
eitiler side of tile platform.
As the action of tile play began, the
screen seemed to clisappeaJ' and was replaced by a series of ~rtual worlds. Eight
clifferent scenes including a bedroom, an
office and a graveyaJ'd, appeared as seeming three-dimensional spaces behind the
actors. In some instances, objects seemed
to emerge {rom the screen into tile playing
area. Often, live actors onstage conversed
\\~th images of otiler actors who were
working live in front of a canlera backstage. An eerie soundtrack played under
tile action throughout.
Behind the screen, tile crew watched
tile action on a \~deo monitor. As the actors moved about tile stage, an operator
known as tile irtual En~ronl11ent Oliver,
or VED, steered tile observation point
\\~thiJI the virtual worlds. Thus tile actors
appeared to "trave]" withiJI tile world, or
tile auclience's vantage point was changed.
As Mr. and Mrs. Zero enter and move
about the bedroom in scene one, tile scenery moves \~th them, moving to tile right
and left, closer and further away and panning around the room. When Zero climbs
into bed, the auclience's \~ewpoint was
raised to the ceiling where they could look
down on tile bed. The actor playing Zero
then stood ill {ront of tile 3-D inlage of tile
bed and seemed to be l)~ng upon it, sleeping soundly.

Mr. and Mrs. Zero and party guests

TO&T

WINTER

I

996

41
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1996
