Digital Design Center, Architecture, UNCC, Tales of the Lost Formicans, Theater Department UNCC

Digital Design Center researchers Drew Skau, Michelle MacDonnell, Ronna Gardner, Ryan Buyssens, Chris Beorkrem and Eric Sauda from the School of Architecture have been working on this collaboration for the stage production of Tales of the Lost Formicans

Two unusual scenic devices, the Scrimjector and the Digital Tunnel, were designed and implemented by the Digital Design Center at the School of Architecture. These devices are part of the on-going research of the Center in interactive environments and the methods by which computers can be embedded into physical environments at all scales from individual objects to cities.

The Scrimjector (from scrim and projector) is a device that is controlled by infrared sensing devices and is powered by servo motors. It can track an actor through the space of the stage and provide images that are linked to the position or performance of that actor.

Tales of the Lost Formicans , acclaimed by William A. Henry III of Time magazine as "A travel guide to Middle America conducted by aliens from outer space...If not the best new play of recent years, surely the most imaginative," chronicles one suburban blue-collar family as the patriarch Jim is dying of Alzheimers disease, the daughter Cathy moves home after being replaced by a younger woman, and her son Eric runs away and ends up sleeping in shopping malls. Seeking love and tripping over their own efforts, their search to comprehend their own lives is paralleled by that of the alien visitors who now retell their story, sharing observations both astute and absurd. Tales of the Lost Formicans won the Newsday/Oppenheimer Award for the best new play produced in New York City in 1990.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Theater
• Interactive architecture