SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
One of the first plays written for mixed reality recently opened in New York. "An Ark" is about the joys and terrors of being human, and it's all-British cast includes acting royalty Ian McKellen. But if you go to a performance, you will discover that Mr. McKellen and his fellow actors are not actually in the theater with you. NPR's Jennifer Vanasco put on a headset to watch a very different play.
UNIDENTIFIED THEATER EMPLOYEE #1: Welcome to "An Ark."
JENNIFER VANASCO, BYLINE: Mixed reality might be a new concept to you.
UNIDENTIFIED THEATER EMPLOYEE #2: Can I scan your tickets?
VANASCO: It was to me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SCANNER BEEPING)
VANASCO: Basically, it's like virtual reality.
UNIDENTIFIED THEATER EMPLOYEE #2: We're going to hold you here for just one...
VANASCO: You use a headset. There's something happening in a digital space, except you can also see your real surroundings at the same time. So digital characters seem like they're sitting in the same space you're in.
UNIDENTIFIED THEATER EMPLOYEE #3: When you have the headset, you should see four wooden chairs on, like, ground-floor level.
VANASCO: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED THEATER EMPLOYEE #3: It shouldn't be floating or, like, behind you.
VANASCO: We're at The Shed - it's a nonprofit art center in Manhattan. And I've brought with me Kay Matschullat, the artistic director of Media Art Xploration. It develops shows around art, science, tech. This is her wheelhouse.
KAY MATSCHULLAT: So it's fascinating 'cause we're going to have a shared experience as an audience, but the actors are not here. The live performers are somewhere completely else.
VANASCO: They're not in this room, and they're not doing this live. This is a prerecorded performance. And yet...
MATSCHULLAT: We're all experiencing it together. There's a togetherness that you don't get with virtual reality.
VANASCO: You do get it when you go to a movie theater, though. So is it like a movie? Is it like a play? Is it something else entirely? They call it an experiment. We're about to find out what it is.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
VANASCO: The actors walk in, and it looks like they're walking in next to you, their clothes almost brushing your chair. More than that, as they come in, it looks like they're staring directly into your eyes, sizing you up. I'm not sure I pass inspection.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
IAN MCKELLEN: (As character) Don't panic.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Don't panic.
MCKELLEN: (As character) Don't be scared.
ARINZE KENE: (As character) This must feel strange to you.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) It felt strange to me. I still remember it now, like it was...
MCKELLEN: (As character) There must have been a time when you knew this was going to happen.
VANASCO: They sit in those four ghostly chairs, and it's as if we're sitting in a circle together. They're life-sized. Behind them, outside the circle, we can see other audience members watching the same thing we're watching, with their headsets covering their eyes. Their heads go back and forth like a tennis match as they watch the actors speaking.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) You'll want to tell people about the things that have happened to you in here.
MCKELLEN: (As character) And the things that happened...
VANASCO: Now, let's stop there for a moment at the beginning of the show, and let me introduce you to someone else.
TODD ECKERT: I'm Todd Eckert. I'm the producer of "An Ark." I also commissioned the work. The idea is, what can we do with this medium that you can't do in any other way?
VANASCO: And what can you do?
ECKERT: You can have four incredible actors speaking directly to you. They are actually looking you in the eyes because we know where your eyes are. And that makes the connection something beyond traditional theater, beyond traditional storytelling and actually gives you a sense of human connection with the greatest actors in the world.
VANASCO: That eye contact? That is new, and it's a bit eerie, but does it really feel like you have a connection with these actors in person? Well, it is very intimate. You choose where you look, and you can see personal details - the manicures on their bare toes, a tattoo, the way they shift their legs or hold their hands.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MCKELLEN: (As character) The things that happened to you...
KENE: (As character) All the things that have ever happened to you...
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) They matter.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Do they?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) They do.
VANASCO: Like a play, this story was done in one take. There are no edits.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MCKELLEN: (As character) You were born in a town on the coast.
KENE: (As character) You were born in the suburbs of a major city.
VANASCO: But human connection? What it's missing is the actors responding to the people in the room. If the audience laughs, if they grow restless and bored, the actors keep trundling on. Though the characters seem to be looking at me when I respond with my face, their expressions don't mirror mine.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) You were born in a desert. An actual desert.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) It's a huge shock.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) It's just normal.
MCKELLEN: (As character) It's astonishing.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) It is the most normal thing in the world. There's nothing astonishing about it at all.
VANASCO: And yet there is something astonishing about "An Ark." This mixed-reality experiment, it does feel very new - as if we're seeing the first movie with color or the first with sound. Not perfect, but really, really interesting. Kay Matschullat and I talk afterwards.
MATSCHULLAT: In the first moment, I thought, oh. And then I thought, no, this is not real - that maybe the magic isn't quite there yet.
VANASCO: I felt very moved by it without feeling convinced by it.
I ask her if she'd be inclined to go to another mixed-reality show.
MATSCHULLAT: I came away thinking it has room to grow, that there's an interesting experience to be had with people in the room and that these questions we're bringing up might feed the next generation of it. Like, can we get - the people in the mixed-reality world, can they be more connected, and can their connection include us, like, breaking the fourth wall? So I - yeah, it made me want to go.
VANASCO: Both Kay Matschullat and I believe in communal experiences. Yet movie ticket sales are down. Theater ticket sales around the country - down. If this new technology can get people to experience storytelling together in the same room, even just to check it out, then why not?
Jennifer Vanasco, NPR News, New York. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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