lifestyles
A virtual reality play comes to KU tonight.
Stories by Jake Arnold Illustration by Nathan Olson
The realms of virtual reality contain uncharted possibilities. The University Theatre is one of the pioneers exploring this new frontier.
KU's presentation of "The Adding Machine" this evening may be the first play combining virtual reality with an established script and real actors, done in actual time before a live audience.
The scenery for the play is created and manipulated on computers. The images on the computer screen are sent to projectors. The projectors then display two images with different polarizations into a rear proje-
tion screen behind and beside the stage. Actors filmed off stage and a computer generated character are also inserted into the virtual-reality world. All of it is done in actual time. None of it is recorded. Audiences wearing polarized glasses see the images in 3-D.
As the first of its kind, the play is getting world-wide
struction. Then he tried using equipment he already had to view virtual-reality designs on the stage.
"It dawned on me, why not cut out the building of the scenery step?" Reaney said.
"Ron was the obvious answer," Reaney said. "He has an interest in computers, and I also knew he wouldn't try to take over the project."
Before he could have a play, he needed a director. He asked Ron Willis, professor of theater and film, to direct it.
But when Reaney, associate professor of theatre and film, had the idea for this project two years ago, it just seemed a logical extension of what he was already doing.
Reaney, a set designer, would design props on his computer and use a virtual-reality headset to view them before he began con-
Next, the newly formed partnership needed a play.
"The Adding Machine" performances
"We looked for plays with fantastic"
All performances will be held at Crafton-Preyer Theatre.
Reporters from as far as Australia have shown interest in the project, and the Netherlands is sending a film crew to do a short documentary.
"We put out a big net hoping to catch a little interest," said Mark Reaney, the father of this project. "Our net caught a lot more than we thought, a lot of international attention."
April 25 to 28 - 8 p.m.
Today to Friday — 8 p.m.
Friday — 8:39 p.m.
Sunday and Sunday — 2:30
p.m.
attention both from the art world and technology circles.
Information about the play posted on the Internet brought unexpected attention.
April 29 and 30 — 2:30 p.m., 8 p.m.
Tickets are $8 for the public, $4 for KU students and $7 for other students and senior citizens.
Tickets are on sale at Murphy Hall, 864-3982; Lied Center, 864-ARTS; SUA Office, 864-3747.
said.
"The Adding Machine," a 1923 expressionistic drama by Elmer Rice, fit the bill.
With the magic of virtual reality, floating furniture and spinning, cockeyed rooms are used to express the inner torments and emotions of characters.
The scenery can move characters from above ground, to below ground, to a surreal afterlife.
The actors, without aid of props or being able to see the virtual reality clearly, act and interact with the images on the screen. Through the interactions, the virtual reality becomes another actor in the show.
"The scenery can
"We have to be big and expansive or nobody would be paying attention to us," said Eben Copple, Lawrence freshman, who plays Shrdu. "People would put on the glasses and watch the scenery."
Because the 3-D scenery is so eyedrawing, the actors must compete for the audience's attention.
reflect states of mind," Reaney said. "You can't do that with normal scenery."
"We are not just using virtual reality for the sake of using it. Any chimp can do that," he said. "We use it to interpt."
Willis also said he was excited by the creative challenge of virtual reality.
"We don't want to make it look like painted sets," Willis said. "If we did, we would not be living up to the potential of
vir-
The play needed a lot of money to reach its potential. Reaney estimated the cost of all the necessary equipment at $40,000. Some equipment the University already had, and some pieces of equipment will be useful for other projects. Still, the cost was greater than the play's $5,000 budget.
real reality. We have the capacity to change the audience's perspective. The hard part is living up to the potential without going gimmicky."
Fortunately, Reaney got help.
The production is co-sponsored by Bank IV, 900 Ohio St., The United States Institute for Theatre Technology, Victor Maxx Technologies, Inc. and the Virtus Corporation, which created and donated much of the software involved. The projection equipment was provided by Friends of the Theatre. KU's General Research Fund provided grants for the initial investigations into the project.
New equipment is no good without operators, though. The backstage personnel, who operate the computers and slide projectors, took a three hour class this semester to learn their jobs.
Their jobs are important enough that the man who manipulates the scenery, Christian Nevins, Jacksonville, Ill., freshman, is billed as the final actor.
As the virtual environment driver, his mouse controls the movement of the scenery. He watches the actors on a video monitor and moves the scenery in response to them.
"I am given some free license to where and when I can move, just like an actor," he said.
A lot of time and effort has gone into this ground-breaking work, and a lot is still going into it. On Thursday, the crew finally received an important computer they had been waiting for. Reaney expects the play to be different and better the more they perform it.
And he doesn't think it will be the last virtual reality play he will do, but he has no immediate plans for another.
"I am too stressed out and overworked to think about next year." Reaen said.
But the cast and crew is happy about their contribution to history.
"I believe if Elmer Ware was alive today," Willis said, "he would say, 'Wow, neat!'"
Avant-garde play is virtually real
People should see the University Theatre's production of "The Adding Machine" because it is the first virtual reality play of its kind.
People should enjoy "The Adding Machine" because it is a funny, thought-provoking play with great acting and presentation.
People will still be talking about "The Adding Machine" for a long time afterward because it is the first virtual-reality, live-action play.
However, for people not fully aware of virtual reality's technological limitations, the play may be disappointing. It is not nearly as spectacular as the virtual worlds shown in television and film.
Virtual reality in this production appears as a 3-D movie behind the actors. The technology places characters being filmed offstage in the 3-D screen and creates its own environment. But audiences won't confuse the virtual environment with the real characters. While the technology is refined enough to create patterns in wallpaper, it can't do convincing cobwebs or dirt smudges.
"We are not trying to fool anybody that it is computer generated," said Mark Reaney, associate professor of theater and film.
This multimedia play is the brainchild of Reaney, a set and prop designer. He, more than anybody, knows the limitations of present technology and experience. Within those limits, though, he wanted to do something different.
The play is the story of Mr. Zero, an accountant who has worked for the same firm for 25 years. When he is replaced by an adding machine, Mr. Zero kills the boss. After he is executed, he learns about his own nature and how the reality really works. Finally, he is sent back to earth only to become the operator of a super adding machine that resembles a computer.
Although the play was written in 1923, it confronts the struggle of man being replaced by machine, a problem long before the invention of computers.
The play is an expressionistic drama, lending itself to the easily manipulated scenery of virtual reality. Cockeyed rooms spin and turch, revealing characters' inner turmools. The boss, a virtual reality projection, towers over Mr. Zero. In the scene depicting Mr. Zero's death, the moving scenery zooms him around the cemetery and then drops him six feet underground. The scenery becomes an expressive tool, explaining and interpreting action in the play in addition to providing a backdrop.
"Because it is an expressionistic play, we want the audience to have to engage their brains a little bit," Reanev said.
Ron Willis, professor of theater and film, further challenges the audience to think about the action on stage by not using any props. Actors must pantomime smoking a cigarette or sitting on a stool.
"We ask ourselves, 'Is it a play about stools?" he said.
"If not, we don't need it. Who needs it? People with little imagination. We try to keep the focus on the play."