Improvised Technology

A robotic improvisational theatre

Improvised Technology

On September 9th, 2022, a small group of roughly 25 people got together in an atrium in DH5. They gathered around one person standing in the middle gesturing them to come closer.

We’ve invited a local improvisational performer Flo Amar to make an impro theatre about robots. Our brief was “People who act as people interact with people who act as technology.” He was immediately on board and proposed that the audience should be as well. We were skeptical, but excited to see what happens. The perfect venue would be Hedonistika, the festival of automated pleasure. Flo would make a few scenes with participants from the audience, reflecting on our interactions and relationships with technology.

  1. Preparation, where Flo asked people to write on a piece of paper something a machine could say to a human, or a human would say to a machine, and collected the statements to be used in the scenes.
  2. Warmup, consisting of a few different exercises to get people moving, excited and hopefully willing to join Flo on stage.Warmup, consisting of a few different exercises to get people moving, excited and hopefully willing to join Flo on stage.
  3. Four scenes, each in a different form, with a different setting, about a different subject, with different people on stage.Four scenes, each in a different form, with a different setting, about a different subject, with different people on stage.