Performing with Me

#Audience-performer interaction #Immersive theater #Motion capture

Immersive theater in virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly popular in recently years. However, it is difficult for the audience to immerse in the play while interacting with the performer who usually presented as virtual avatars. In this paper, we present a novel approach for enhancing audience-performer interaction based on the theory of immersive theater. We integrated three types of interaction into a virtual play: individual-based interaction, scenario- based interaction, and narrative-based interaction. We reported the findings of a pilot qualitative study and identified three design recommendations: (1) letting the audience decide how the scenario goes, (2) making clear the identity of the audience, and (3) increasing the audience’s freedom to explore in VR space. These recommendations could be adapted for future VR theater experience.