Virtual Choir and The Convergence of Technology

I was just wondering about any new technological advances that I've learned about recently when I remembered sitting in choir last year and my choir director was speaking of a similar interest.  She had wondered how choirs were being 'modernized.'  She showed us this amazing video of Eric Whitacre and his creation of the virtual choir through a series of emails and youtube auditions.

 Eric Whitacre picked soloists, arranged the choir, and had all of their?   videos edited to fit together to create a choir of 2,000 people who had never even met before.  This convergence of technology shows the direction that our technology is really heading in.  Who knows?  Maybe in the next decade or so, someone will set up an online show?  This thought almost seems impossible now but what if you had told someone 50 years ago that people would be performing in a massive choir with other people they had never even seen before?

The convergence of technology is the cause of technology's rapid evolution.  The collaboration that this provides puts new ideas inside the minds of the technological geniuses of today and they try to create their ideas.  This innovation makes way for performances that we can't even imagine!  In fact, with the constant convergence of technology, it seems as though live performance as we know it is endangered.  Are we heading into a future of strictly technological performances?

Something Interesting

While browsing the internet I came across a really interesting discovery and I just had to find a way to incorporate it into this subject somehow. But before I go on describing my finding, I have to give some background information first.
An aspect of theatre that is not as well known is the competitive aspect.  In high schools all across America, they hold One Act competition plays in which kids hold a 35 minute, maximum, play that is then critiqued by judges and given a score to potentially advance, then to state and so on.  It is very similar to a sport in regards to all of the additional rules that must be followed. Since the play will be disqualified upon exceeding the time limit of 35 minutes, each school must make their set as mobile and light as possible.
Now, having presented that knowledge, I can continue.  While browsing the internet I happened across a tiny little article describing how the internet had weight. My first thought was how is this possible, but then I looked more into it and it talked about an email containing all these electrons and those electrons have a very miniscule weight. Small, but still there.  How does this relate to theatre, you may be asking. Well, although it doesn't weigh much, it is still adding on to the already heavy set that a school may have brought along with them. I know when I was in the competition, my school had brought a heavy set and that extra weight may have just mentally set us over the edge. In addition, there was an allotted time to set up everything, so the extra weight would've just slowed us down and could've take us over the 35 minute time limit.

Source: http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/activitypage.asp?actnum=421

I hope anyone reading this enjoyed it as much as I did happening upon this information. Some things we just look past, without a second glance. It was really interesting to delve into this a bit further.

Some Opinions

I have interviewed a few previous directors or 'techies' I have worked with in the past and they seemed to believe that I pose a very interesting question.  'Does technology affect any field of work in the theatre realm in a negative light?' is a very hard question to answer intellectually without any previous knowledge or study about the subject.  My high school director, Julie Magnuson had said that she saw no difference in the relationship between the number of people involved in the show and the amount of technology in the show.  A previous tech director of mine, who was just known as Steve, had added that he felt like he had either more people involved in crew, or he had more experienced workers.  This specifically gets me thinking.  Maybe it doesn't necessarily affect in quantity, maybe better technical workers are involved, theoretically making the show have a better output.  These are just two opinions out of the millions of people involved in theatre around the world, so their input may not mean much but it gets me that much closer to coming to a conclusion.  Any other people's personal opinions or knowledge is very welcomed and much appreciated!

Technical Theatre and You



Photo provided by: http://www.flickr.com/people/lx-88/

 Technology is a very important tool in our everyday lives.  We use it for everything now, even reading.  But how is this tool that is becoming more and more used worldwide being incorporated into theatre?  How is technology evolving to benefit, or harm for that matter, the art of theatre?

Above is a picture a soundboard: a typical theatre staple.  This item is usually incorporated in shows as it controls microphone feed and other such things.  This is just one of the many ways technology is being incorporated with theatre.  I've been in shows where we've used small snippets of documentary and I've also been in shows where there was a whole PowerPoint of pictures.  In both of these instances a huge screen, a projector, and a computer was required.  Although including a movie or pictures into a live show isn't that common, it is one of the more reasonable ways to include technology into performance.

The question still remains, however, is technology helping or hurting the working field of theatre?  As an actor, it would seem as the movie or video in a show would take the role of some actors, therefore less roles available.  But looking from the standpoint of someone in lights or sounds, it would give them more work; therefore more jobs would become available.  So, from whose standpoint do we observe this issue from?  Does technology give or take away from the working field of theatre?