Performance

We created an interactive performance following a day in the life of a CMU student. There are two performers: a narrator and a protagonist. At certain points in the story, the audience must choose the action taken by the protagonist by raising their hands or yelling. This adds an element of randomization, since the performers cannot predict what path the audience will take (what the protagonist's name is, whether he will dress up or not, which pick-up line he will use, etc.). Alongside the performers, there are projected visuals representing what is currently happening in the story.

The majority of the performance takes place at the level of participation (as described by Dixon in "Performing Interactivity"). The audience collectively makes decisions by raising their hands or shouting, and the performers respond to those decisions. There is also a degree of navigation, since most of the choices that the audience can make are written ahead of time by us. The part where the audience names the protagonist is closest to conversation, because we have no idea what the name will end up being.

In this iteration, the protagonist is named "Azerbaijan" and uses pick-up line #16. Other decisions affect the course of the story differently.