David Z. Saltz. Live Media: Interactive Media and Theatre. Theatre Topics, Volume 11, Number 2, September 2001, pp. 107-130 (Article)

In this paper, David Z. Saltz showed us thoughts on the subject of categorizing types of interactive media through her great deal of  experience. The author shared her opinion on 3 main distinguishing factors between classic, old, “linear” media versus the new, innovative, “interactive” media, supported by the rise of digital instruments. She also went carefully through various pieces in order to give further insight on how “interactive media” was practically utilized on stage. At the end of the work, Saltz presented a “neither exhaustive or mutually exclusive” list of relationship between actors and  the media.

The first play is Hair– a rock musical piece famous in its time for addressing urgent social issues such as Vietnam War, the hippe movement and recreational drug usage. Digital technology was used to generate animation to enhance the sensation of drug-induced hallucinations. Notable interactive element was mostly the projection breaking the norm and influence the stage in a somewhat “mediated” way. It means that rather than restricting the actor to a linear projection, the offstage player used hundred of MIDI-triggered still images and video clips to conform with the actors activities in a tight manner.

The second play, Kaspar, was ideal for interactive implementation due to its content. Objects were rigged to produce sound and effect as the actor interacted with them correctly. There was also an eye-like object which followed the main actor , controlled by a offstage computer operator. In this play, the element of “unmediated” interaction between actor and the media was introduced, featuring Kaspar’s investigation of each piece of furniture, achieved by using various type of sensors.

The third play, The Tempest, employed an interactive-human tracking to portray an ethereal entity, a spirit. A player offstage was equipped with tracking devices and literally controlled the animation projected on the stage in real time. This type of representation is not available with the traditional linear media.

With the paper, we can learn many things about practical case of interactive media integrated into theatre’s plays .And with the list of relationship provided, one can somewhat narrow down the choices of what should be implemented interactively to achieve certain positive effects. It is also notable that using interactive media, while considered to be the new age, does not come hand in hand with the guaranteed “better” result than traditional media. It is even stated in the paper that interactive activities, without proper representation, might not even be distinguishable from normal, simple linear media.