🎧Tech Behind the Scenes

Wayfinding: Spotlights > Tech Behind the Scenes

Because theatre makers were forced into fully remote work in 2020, their perspective on integrating digital technology into their production process has shifted. I documented this shift in the performance space itself, but there has been an equally dramatic shift in behind-the-scenes methods. Digital tools are not new to theatre makers - obviously email, text messages and SMS services, document writing programs, spreadsheets, slideshows, CAD programs, QLab and other tech cueing integrations, file sharing systems, digital photography, and video and image editing software have all been integrated into the theatre creation toolkit. It would be a rare production even before the pandemic to be fully analogue. However, post-pandemic, there are even more tools available, triggering changes to the entire theatre making pipeline from auditions to final performance. This Spotlight documents what I have found about these changes so far.

Figure 32: Screen grab of Streamed Shakespeare's Henry IV production folder on Google Drive, which Holly Champion allowed me to access as part of my archival research into this livestreamed performance. The folder contains several test images demonstrating how Chromakey setups could work for various characters. The Chromakey tests, the testing process itself, and the online documentation itself demonstrate a few ways that technology is integrated into second wave digital theatre behind the scenes.