Dispatches from the Trenches

2013 Wrap: Ripples after the Wave ~ Feedback from Artists and Audiences

"When the first moving pictures were shown, at the beginning of the 20th Century, they were fairly rudimentary, even crude films: images of zeppelins on maiden voyages; people attending operas; cotton mills in actions; guns being fired; trains running on tracks. People were impressed with seeing a representation of real life, whether exotic or trivial. Is this very different from the current state of YouTube, with its cat videos, recut movie trailers, and home-made TV programs? A hundred years from now, people will look back on our first usage of the internet as a quaint fascination, a group of people who had neither the tools nor the context to push the form to its sophisticated end point...

TIMEWAVE is a fascinating project, in that it is beginning the conversation and exploration of how we as artists use this medium, a medium that will continue to change our world in unimaginable ways.

Who knows where this will take us, who knows how it will be part of our work as theatre artists in even five years time, much less twenty or thirty?

I can't begin to measure the value of this experience just now, I can only appreciate having the chance to be part of the act of pioneering."

Drayton Alexander Hiers ~ Artistic Director, LoNyLa Singapore and director ("Paradise")

"TimeWave was a great opportunity to collaborate with artists across the pond. Being able to use current and popular technology in a theatrical context is a great affirmation of the continued relevance and importance of live performance. As a performer, I found the practice of taking a theatrical script, written for the screen, and applying it to the format we used, challenging and fulfilling in several ways. Anyone who has used a webcam to Skype or FaceTime knows that it's a slightly alienating and unsettling experience to try to talk directly to someone. You can never look straight into the person's eyes and feel like you're both looking at each other because of the slight distance of the camera from the screen. I found the familiar use of my laptop and webcam lent an intimacy to the performance that I liked."

Graham Halstead ~ American actor ("Transformation")

"My experience at TimeWave was hugely beneficial. By working with directors and actors in New York, my communication skills were tested greatly, and I was forced to be much more explicit and direct in my notes. Also, by having to relocate my play to New York, I was forced to employ a skill I had never used before, essentially Americanising my play, which is useful in writing when approaching adaptations and such. Seeing American actors bring my piece to life also demonstrated how some lines are affected by cultural context and others are universal, and it brought a greater understanding of this to the performance. Overall my experience was very enjoyable."

Nick Cheesman ~ British playwright ("Prime")

"Timewave is one of the only places in modern theatre that can explore what it's like to be on skype with your grandmother, what it's like to break up with a girlfriend in another country or to be alone and together at once because of a video call."

Peter Thomson ~ Innovation Warehouse/Brand Strategist, New Zealand actor ("Humanogram")

"I feel like I have gained great connections to wonderful artists across the globe and a new way to share the work I believe in. There aren't many opportunities that allow you to work with artists around the world. It was great that the automatically paired each of us with someone from another country. The streaming technology allowed so many people the opportunity to see these shows that they would have never had the chance to experience due to the distances."

Ashley Marie Scoles ~ American director ("Prime")

"For me, TimeWave was a unique and engaging experience that expanded my artistic horizons. I'm a graduate student, interested in the intersection between the arts and technology - specifically how technology can help the performing arts evolve and thrive - both onstage and off. I stumbled across TimeWave not long after arriving in London and found it to be a rare event that aligned perfectly with my interests.

Through TimeWave, I gained valuable insight into the different ways artists are using technology to help tell stories and illustrate relationships, even when the performers and the audience are separated by thousands of miles...

I really enjoyed THE ECHO EFFECT and appreciated how it used video streaming to emphasize the distance between the characters' perspectives. Then by the end of the piece, I felt the bond between the characters so powerfully that I nearly forgot that the actors were not actually in the same room. I felt that the technology added a new level of depth that could not have easily been achieved without it. SEX, FLAP & JAZZ; "BODY/DOUBLE; and CARPE DIESAL also used technology in innovative and inspiring ways to enhance the audience's experience - adding new dimensions to relationships, characters' roles, and advancing the plot."

Jessica Wesley, Art/Tech MA candidate, NYU ~ audience member

"I absolutely do think it's important to get this experience at the intersection of theatre and technology, if only because it represents an effort on theatre's part to find some relevance in this modern world. Whether we like it or not, people get their stories in a different form these days. They are now accustomed to receiving it through their computers and they are used to having a certain amount of control over the process and context in which they watch it.

Theatre, in the traditional sense, does not honor this. It forces audiences to watch the play on the company's terms and no one wants that anymore. This might make us lament the loss of a bygone era but it's out of our control at this point so if we want to survive and thrive, we have to adjust to a new reality.

I think it's very wise for theatre to emphasize its live quality (which makes it fairly unique at this point) by adapting that quality not only to integrate it with technology but also to use that technology to question the very definition of the word "live." And I very much believe that is what Timewave sets out to do."

Dylan Southard, American director/dramaturg, co-founder of LA-based Needtheater ("Carpe Diesal")

"Firstly, a real insight into the playwriting possibilities combining this kind of technology with theatre, to create a new kind of theatre with a much broader audience; how it can bring an additional layer to the storytelling, as well as to the presentation, and, perhaps, a way in which this new kind of theatre can reach out to a younger audience. I am, also, aware that many people around the world have now seen my work via the livestream platform. For example, I now have a meeting with a literary agent partly based on the Timewave production which she was able to watch from her office in New York. It was, also, a great opportunity to see how other writers and artists from all over the world, used this technology to take their art to another level."

Sheri Graubert, British-American playwright ("Humanogram")

August 27: Announcing Raquel Santiago, Winner of the TimeWave Photo Contest

Selected as the best photo by Amogh Desai, Founder and Director of the National Institute of Photography (India), "London Bridge from Top of Shard" by Raquel Santiago has won the TimeWave photo contest.

Please see further details of the contest on award.io's TimeWave page.

Given the competition's theme "Photo memories of your life," Santiago's photo captured a startlingly beautiful aerial view of London Bridge. The TimeWave team is thrilled to see this entry and announce Santiago's photo as the winner.

Santiago's photo "follows the rules of composition properly and also the river flowing in between creates a dramatic effect in the image," says Desai.

As the winner, Santiago will receive a case of delicious wine as sponsored by Naked Wines.

TimeWave thanks Naked Wines as well as award.io for running the contest with an elegant 21st century vehicle.

Although other photo submissions by TimeWave artists and crew didn't make the cut, the TimeWave team was thrilled by their participation in the contest.

In particular, British director Ben Mills submitted a shot of the TimeWave space station in which Production Designer Simon Gethin Thomas and Producing Artistic Director J Dakota Powell were sweating it out over the technology required to make the festival happen.

Camera operator Shan Christopher Ogilvie also submitted a wonderful picture of Princess, the Innovation Warehouse startup kitten.

July 21: Post-Festival Wrap: The TimeWave Space Station

The expectations of whizz-bang tech and the realities of current and affordable applications for video streaming/telepresence haven't yet shaken hands. Compared to tools available a decade ago, the digital space has taken huge leaps. However, one may underestimate the complexity of a festival that not only streams remote pieces from multiple locations during the course of an evening but also employs telepresence.

LoNyLa had evolved to the point where we were streaming in HD online with one camera. In Velocity Lab 2012, we streamed rehearsed readings between London, NYC, LA, Singapore and Berlin. TimeWave represented a steep ramp-up in terms of technical complexity.

While Simon Gethin Thomas ran sound and lighting for the live theatre performances, J Dakota Powell managed the video streaming and telepresence components of the festival.

The Space Station Explained

What was affectionately known as the "space station" consisted of 4 laptops. Each one had a designated function. To combine all of these functions in one computer would've overloaded its processing power.

Certain applications had to remain open and accessible for transitions. Even so, the transitions between plays took too long - a hard-learned lesson in front of a patient audience. As TimeWave evolves, the transitions between plays need to be compressed.

The functions of each of the four computers were as follows:

Computer 1: Command and Control (C&C;)

We used a 2012 Macbook Retina with an i7 quad core processor, two Thunderbolt ports and plenty of RAM. Two Canon Vixia HV30s were hooked up to Blackmagic Intensity Extreme video encoders, which plugged into the laptop. The Canons were set to stream in HD.

Live Video Editing

We were able to edit the London-based video streams in real time - i.e., switch camera shots - via Telestream's Wirecast software. This software plugged directly into UStream's online broadcasting platform. It also recorded the live edit directly to our computer.

In essence, it was a virtual TV studio (see Wirecast image below). We could've added cameras via local networking. However, the dual Thunderbolt ports on the Macbook Pro limited the TimeWave shoot to two HD videocameras.

Telepresence Platform

The C&C; computer also housed the Vidyo telepresence platform. We could control (e.g. turn on/off) the audio and video feeds of the remote cameras from this platform.

For example, a video feed from NYC would be on standby during the course of an evening. Once a play from NYC was about to go live, we'd turn on the NYC video feed from London. The remote camera was already turned on and ready to go.

See the Vidyo platform panel with multiple streams on standby.

Computer 2: Audio and Projection Inputs

When you *project* a remote video feed to a live audience, you have to split the audio and video components of the feed.

If you don't split the audio from the video, the audio creates an infinite feedback loop. The reason: input from the projection is being fed back into the microphone on stage. What results is a deafening echo. We had to use a second computer to stream the audio of remote feeds.

For example, when NYC streamed into the Vidyo telepresence platform, we only used the video (image) of the feed. We had to mute the sound. Skype was then used to stream the audio portion of the play being performed in NYC. By splitting image and sound, we eliminated the problem of an infinitely looping echo.

From a communications standpoint, the coordination of video feeds from remote locations became that much more complicated. New York City had to check in with London on two platforms - Vidyo for image and Skype for sound.

Computer 2 was also used for projection inputs for the live performances in London.

The TimeWave set-up wasn't built for video projection design. In 2013, we focused on remote video streaming and telepresence; however, some of the plays in London required projection of background images and short videos.

We used the telepresence platform for video projection, and it was not optimal. Moving forward, we will need a computer dedicated to video projection, particularly for a festival involving several short plays.

Computer 3: Communications and Monitoring

A third computer was used for communications between London and remote locations - New York City, Los Angeles, Singapore and Madrid.

The easiest application to use was Google Hangouts. A chat function enabled cities to prepare the actors and camera operators to stream and helped London to coordinate the flow between the plays.

The video feeds on the telepresence platform caused the most problems. The application would time out a video feed on standby - i.e., the video feed would drop off the radar and disappear from the platform altogether.

We then had to start from scratch. Just before going live, the remote team had to log back in to the platform and London had to retest the video and audio streams. These glitches caused innumerable delays. Live audiences had to be prepared for "comms" breaks.

In London, our only solution was to lay out a table of food and drink. Hope people made merry!

Computer 3 also enabled us to watch the live stream on the Ustream platform, monitoring the broadcast for sound and image problems.

There were few issues with online broadcasting. On occasion, external static would affect the Ustream broadcast. Because the static was due to outside factors - e.g., construction on the street below Innovation Warehouse - we had little control over it and had to wait for it to pass. Remote streaming and telepresence posed the lion's share of the difficulties.

Computer 4: Projection

The fourth computer acted as a puppet for computers one and two. Remote video streams were projected from this computer to a large floor-to-ceiling, rear view projection screen at Innovation Warehouse.

If this computer were used for anything else, our behind-the-curtain machinations would become transparent to the audiences. In some cases, we couldn't avoid the transparency.

The audience actually delighted in seeing a Skype message projected onscreen to Teoma Nacarrato ("Dirt") in Montreal...saying "Go go go!"

Because of the complexity of a hybrid stage and screen format, the use of furniture or a detailed set for the live performance would, in effect, detract from what was happening on the screen.

In a sense, you have to strike a balance between 2D (screen) and 3D (stage) worlds.

As per physical production values, TimeWave consisted of simple props from Innovation Warehouse, dramatic lighting, sound bytes and streaming video on a large screen. Given that this is a first step toward a new type of programming, anything more complicated on stage would've been beyond our reach.

While TimeWave was by no means perfect, the festival did stretch the boundaries of storytelling form, particularly with the use of telepresence.

 

May 31: Update from Los Angeles: When in Doubt, Sketch It Out

How many people remember strapping a Sony Walkman to their upper arm...the size of a brick...to go for a jog around Central Park and feel as if it were coolest thing on earth? If you got mugged, all you had to do was zap the offender with the Walkman to knock 'im out.

Well that was then and this is now. In 1958, Kilby's microchip was the size of your pinky and had a single transistor, three resistors and a capacitor. Today, the average microchip is penny-sized, if not smaller, and can hold as many as 125 million transistors. Computing continues to speed up.

When it comes to covering a live performance with multiple cameras and streaming it to the Internet, our grown-up kids in 10 to 20 years (if not sooner) will be saying: That was then, this is now. Wires and cables will be obsolete - a laughable remnant from a bygone age. No plugs, no wires, no adaptors. Everything will be wireless. Why bother with a projector when the wallpaper is smart? Wave your hand - huzzah! The wall lights up and projects an interactive live video stream from any city in the world.

In 2013, we're still figuring out which adaptor to use to hook a MacBook Pro to a projector.

New York-based playwright, David Simpatico, has written a dark comedy, "Carpe Diesal," about three American copywriters who are creating advertisements from news coverage of riots and uprisings. The four-part serialized format begs the question: can this era be defined as the commercialization of injustice and discontent?

Dylan Southard, the co-founder of LA-based Needtheater and member of LoNyLa LA, has always had an interest in the intersection of theatre and new technology. He wanted to dive into a piece and develop it with an eye on using technology in an interesting way.

Simpatico is a quick and flexible writer. He was game for developing what was originally a ten-minute piece into a four-part series evolving over the course of the festival. The play naturally involves multiple, if not conflicting, perspectives with the potential of branching story lines.

The next step was to link Los Angeles and London via the story and not just technology. In other words, content intertwined characters on both sides of the pond. It's not just a case of streaming in material from a remote location.

Technology then serves the story in a back-and-forth exchange between characters in the two cities.

Once the story was developed, the next step was to figure out the tech requirements to bring the format to life.

Each day of "Carpe Diesal" presents a particular set of technical challenges. For example, the three copywriters view and riff on live coverage of riots. The question: how do we crop and stream YouTube videos into the telepresence platform?

Dylan and David came up with a diagram on how to accomplish this feat and sent it to Dakota, who is handling the broadcasting of TimeWave. She took one look at the diagram and had to grin.

That was then, this is now. We don't need to point a camera on a computer screen to film a YouTube video. That's already one camera too many. Both Vidyo and Wirecast have desktop capture capabilities. You don't need any external devices.

The exercise of figuring out how to use new technology to stage a live performance is the leap.

In some cases, live theatre should be what it's always been - an intimate experience without gadgets or gizmos or any whizz-bang tech. The human mind is perhaps the most sophisticated piece of computing machinery that exists.

TimeWave will present plays that don't need new tech. Some plays that will be streamed in to London are best served by traditional ways of making theatre.

In the case of Carpe Diesal, the use of technology expands the original story in startling and fresh ways and links talent in two major cities in real time.

May 30: Roving NYC and London Actors in "Dead Drop" ~ Streaming in with iPads and Mobile Phones

The amazing property of a telepresence platform is that actors can stream right into the platform with an iPad or an iPhone. An actor in New York City can be en route to Ray's Pizza for a slice and interacting with a London actor en route to Pret a Manger for a Peking Duck wrap.

As long as the two actors in the two different cities and time zones have a decent Internet connection, they can stream into the same virtual space online.

The quality of the stream depends on the strength of the wired connection and the personal device. We've found that iPads deliver the same quality stream as a high-powered laptop.

An actor can tote around iPad and live stream his or her surroundings - e.g., a frenetic Manhattan intersection with engines revving and horns blaring - into the virtual space. Suddenly, an actor in London hears a dog bark from a Lower East Side street.

In "Dead Drop," a security agent for the British government has to extract information from the British brother of an FBI's "person of interest."

Security agents in New York City need info from London to figure out what the connection is between the once estranged brothers. The format is a roving spy caper between the US and the UK. And, indeed, their interrogation styles are rather different. Culture clash jokes aside...

The actors in New York - Teddy Canez ("Clive"), Susan Louise O'Connor ("Jane") and David Rysdahl ("Adam") - and the actors in London - Anniwaa Buachie ("Polly") and Thomas Rushforth ("George") - rehearsed online with J Dakota Powell directing.

One challenging aspect of rehearsing on a telepresence platform is maintaining focus on the person you're interacting with in a scene. You don't have the ability to look someone in the eye as you would in a physical space. It seems that the actors rely more on vocal cues. Because they're on screen, their acting also becomes more natural and less "stagey."

The questions we have concern the use of a "controlled environment" versus one that isn't controlled, such as a street. Since this format requires that actors in New York City travel through the streets, how much risk is involved that the actual performance can be sabotaged by, say, a traffic accident or a dropped iPad?

Stay tuned as we wade through production challenges in this new arena!

May 25: Making Theatre in a Digital Accelerator

The digital space is hot and throbbing. The number of digital startups in London mushrooms as enterpreneurs jump into the space with new concepts, products and business models. It's the second wave, albeit, more sober after the Wild West era of hyperinflated valuations at the turn of the century.

Innovation Warehouse has generously given LoNyLa/TimeWave the use of their event space to launch the festival. In the past few weeks, British theatre artists and digital entrepreneurs have found themselves working side-by-side on occasion.

Unlike theatre, however, the digital space in London is distinctly international. Tiptoe through the working areas of Innovation Warehouse and you'll hear accents from every node on the planet - India, New Zealand, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Austria. You may even detect a British or American accent in this heady mix. Because people from different cultures work and collaborate in close vicinity, accelerators are fertile environments for new ideas and solutions.

On the one hand, the TimeWave journey exposes theatre artists to the boldness and drive of this international community. On the other, artists tend to be an imaginative and daring group. They're not strangers to living on the edge. The cross fertilization of these two groups can serve both communities in productive ways.

As per nuts and bolts, lighting designer Simon Gethin Thomas had to figure out how to create a theatre space in the middle of a wired warehouse!

Using his own software, Simon simulated the space at Innovation Warehouse and designed the theatre for the festival.

We wanted it to be raw, simple and sleek. A large rear view projection screen would be the "set." Because the complexity of the TimeWave plays occurs on screen, a traditional set can actually detract from the narrative flow of a performance.

Directors may use simple props - table or chair - but not much more. Since we're experimenting with a hybrid medium, the artists have to shuffle between theatre and film/television.

The naturalism of film translates well on screen. However, if one actor is on screen and the other actor is live on stage, how does that juxtaposition affect the overall performance?

Next steps are to test the technical set-up with New York City and Los Angeles. These two cities need to stream in their performances to the London event in a seamless way.

As per the experienced Beatriz Cabur, a Spanish theatre-maker, she has just wrapped "Interteatro," a theatrical performance connecting Milan and Madrid. She mixed live video streams with recorded video via the Vidyo telepresence platform. Her TimeWave piece, "The Plane," will be streaming in a cast from New York City and Madrid.

While we hook up multiple cameras to three MacBook Pros in the middle of Innovation Warehouse, none of the digital entrepreneurs blink. To these pioneers, it's business as usual.

May 23: Shuffle-Ball-Change: Three Different Platforms ~ Oi!

To boost the geek factor a notch, there's nothing like a late night video-chat from London to Eric Norrell at Telestream in sunny SoCal. Eric is a desktop specialist and all-around web broadcasting pro. He's going to give us a brief training session on the use of a virtual camera. While we're staring cross-eyed at three different platforms necessary to make TimeWave happen, Eric is cool as an iceberg pre-climate change (no meltdown in sight).

To stream in remote pieces from Spain or the U.S., the process is straightforward.

The minute you start using telepresence in which two locations are contributing to one play at the same time, it gets tricky.

You have to use three applications - telepresence platform, live video editing application and web broadcasting platform. The stream from the telepresence platform feeds into the live video editing software, which then pipes the composite stream into the Internet broadcasting platform. It's supposed to be "live," right?

The next stage in the development of these applications will be full integration, so the platforms speak to each other and the process becomes coordinated and fluid.

At the moment, they were built for different reasons. We have to figure out ways to knit these applications together.

In some respects, it's a reverb back to shoe strings and sealing wax. Ask any old-time physicist and you're bound to hear - sometimes strings and wax are all it takes to get something to work. As long as it works, what's to fret?

The next challenge is to figure out how to give remote actors "eyes and ears" so they can see and hear London actors in telepresence pieces.

We have to train a camera on London actors so, for example, a New York actor isn't left in the twilight zone with no visual or sound cues.

The London actor and the remote actor need their own separate telepresence stream in which they can respond to each other.

We capture and project only the remote actor to the London audience or they'd see a double - a ghost! - of the London actor on the projection screen. Just a wee glitch that has to be ironed out - oi!

In some of the pieces, remote actors can stream right into the telepresence platform with iPads and iPhones.

Actors don't even need a laptop/computer. All they need is an Internet connection and they're streaming into London and projected to a live audience in real time.

The concept of a defined physical space for theatre becomes obsolete. Once urban areas are blanketed with superfast WiFi, entire geographic landscapes become wired for theatre and performance. In a sense, this hybrid theatre/cinema medium becomes more similar to a film except the camera is wrapped in the actor's hand.

May 22: Rehearsing a Play Using Telepresence

Last night blew the concept of a sit-down table read to smithereens. A young British actress, Francesca Bailey, rehearsed "Sex, Flap & Jazz," a piece based on the "Tales of the Jazz Age" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, with David Rysdahl in New York City. The writer/director, J Dakota Powell, was based in a third location in London. The three began rehearsals from desks in bedrooms and kitchen tables in different cities.

They used the Vidyo telepresence platform, which is a business-quality videoconferencing tool for corporates. Most people assume that Vidyo is similar to Skype. However, the platform is more than a video chat over the Internet. It's actually simpler. No number to call, no ringing, no waiting for someone to pick up, and no disjointed pauses or hang-ups.

A telepresence platform is akin to virtual room.

All you need is an email link to enter the room. You can pop in and out of the room by clicking on the link.

It feels as if you're entering and exiting another dimension - a fourth dimension - in which you don't exist as an avatar but as yourself. Live. No cartoonish masks. You can interact with a remote person with minimal latency. For drama, which relies on dialogue, even a second or two of latency can dash the connection between people and make theatre untenable.

When you're using telepresence in a play, one actor is live on stage while another actor works from a remote location. During a performance, the remote actor is streamed into the play and projected on a large screen.

About a dozen plays in TimeWave are using telepresence and connecting British actors with American actors in either New York City or Los Angeles.

Question 1: How do you rehearse a play with actors in different cities and time zones that may span five to eight hours apart? With the time zone difference, how do the circumstances affect the mood and experience of the actors in a scene?

Question 2: How do you stage this kind of piece for a live audience?

Question 3: How do you stage it for a remote audience watching the broadcast over the Internet?

The TimeWave artists are charging toward the frontier. They may slip and slide, but the technology is robust and easy to use. As they continue to explore this terrain, we will update you on progress.