In this companion anthology to Digital Performance in Canada, six works of digital theatre illustrate how audiences are forced to re-evaluate definitions of performative space, bodies, and relationships.
In Avatar, Freya Olafson uses contemporary dance paired with the ambiguities of virtual social networks to navigate the digitally altered notions of exhibitionism, orientation, and identity. You Are Very Star by The Electric Company is a virtual site-specific treasure hunt between the height of the Space Race and the dawn of new humanity. Helen Lawrence by Chris Haddock and Stan Douglas is a hard-boiled tale of loyalty and money that uses both filmed and live sequences to create "live cinema. " Barbra French’s Muse tells a story from inside an institutionalized young woman’s imagination with the help of a nurse, the audience, projections, and light. Theatre Replacement’s Town Choir featured text that was transmitted live from across Canada to the Vancouver Youth Choir, who then transformed the text into songs. And Alien Contagion: Rise of the Zombie Syndrome by Andy Thompson, Tyler Clarke, and Finn Ghosh-Luedke is an immersive theatrical adventure in which audience members need to work together to save the world and conquer the undead.
