In a theatre in Orlando, Lewis Carroll's Alice steps into the legendary rabbit hole. Moments later, she steps out - in Waterloo, Ont. Minutes later, she somehow emerges again, this time in Peoria, Ill.
Welcome to one of the most ambitious, experimental theatre projects ever conceived - Alice (Experiments in Wonderland) - a multipoint telematic performance for children and adults.
A huge logistical challenge, Alice in a digitized wonderland is the brainchild of University of Central Florida theatre professor John Shafer. He interested Gerd Hauck, professor of drama at the University of Waterloo, and George Brown, another colleague at Bradley University in Illinois, and - not quite presto - Alice was born.
In fact, this is the trio's second daring leap into the technological unknown. Last year, they mounted a similar but more modest high-tech project with Elmer Rice's The Adding Machine.
Alice is more complicated by several orders of magnitude. The concept involves using multiple, high-speed broadband connections, six or seven computers, a dozen camera operators, two different fibre-optics protocols, two-dimensional and three-dimensional sets and ceiling-high screens.
In theory, it's an almost revolutionary idea. There are three live audiences in three separate locations. There are three separate casts (about 30 actors on total), in complementary costumes. They're all linked in real time using state-of-the art gadgetry and Internet2, a much faster version of the Internet available to higher-education institutions.
If it all works as it's designed, audiences in three locales would share a novel theatrical experience.
"What we're trying to do in collaboration," Hauck explains, "is explore the creative potential in these technologies. Everyone is aware of the dehumanizing effects of digital media. We want to find something that brings people together for an aesthetically pleasing experience."
Shafer says the goal is to produce the first affordable, easily replicable show that merges three universities' stages, casts and crews into one interactive experience and to lay the groundwork for theatre companies around the world to work together.
In practice, however, the organizers concede that getting the technology to behave constitutes a major challenge - how to make sure the three systems function without annoying time lapses and echo problems. Says Shafer: "How do you keep a unified concept in three dimensional spaces?" What that means in practice is that a much larger proportion of rehearsal time is devoted to issues that have little to do with character, themes, etc. It risks making the actors feel like second and third bananas.
Shafer, who wrote the Alice script (more than 50 drafts, he says), concedes that even if the video projectors and other gizmos all work swimmingly, they can't be allowed to engulf artistic considerations and the core of the event - a meaningful theatrical experience.
Acting is also a test, since it requires performers to act not only with the local audiences, but with the camera and their partners on the screen. "That raises interesting possibilities," Hauck says.
The Carroll story certainly lends itself to this sort of treatment. In Shafer's updated script, Alice is a hip preteen exploring the wonderland of the Internet, equipped with an iPod. The Cheshire cat rides a scooter. There are life-size puppets designed by Heather Henson, daughter of the late Muppets man Jim Henson.
At its best, Shafer says, the concept would allow producers to link audiences in places where live theatre seldom penetrates. And, Hauck says, the relative low costs of the project, not more than $12,000, also makes the process appealing.
Shafer notes that every major technological advance - in almost every field - is quickly applied to the stage. "I think people would flock to see, hypothetically, a production of Hamlet that combined the talents of the Stratford Festival, the Royal Shakespeare Company in Britain and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I think artists are clamouring for the use of broadband, and we can be among the leaders. But yes, it's important not to be awed by the technology. What's important is the human contact. The test always will be: Did the audience enjoy it?"
Alice (Experiments in Wonderland) plays at Waterloo's Theatre of the Arts (and simultaneously
in Orlando and, Peoria, Ill.)
Jan. 31 and Feb. 1-3, For information, call 519-888-4567, ext. 35808.