Technology has changed the way we live our lives every day.Many industries in the world would have collapsed without the use of technology, and they include the theater.Theater plays are meant to project authentic and raw talent in front of thousands of audiences, and technology has been at the forefront of this purpose.
Social Media
Social mediahas played a big role in everyone’s life. It helps people connect with one another, organize events, and create a place where people can engage with one another. It is also used by theaters to engage with their audiences about their plays.
Currently, various Broadway theaters are using social media as a way for their audiences to project their thoughts and feelings about their plays.Audiences are encouraged to leave reviews on different social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.Social media is used as a way to know what their audiences enjoy and hate when it comes to what they have in their theater.
LED
Ever since the invention of the LED light bulb in 1962, the LED, or light-emitting diode, has been used in every industry known to man.Inevitably, it has also made its way into theater arts. It has helped change how people see colorful backdrops and sets.
But LED lights aren’t the only things used in plays; LED screens are used as well. Many LED screensare foundon buildings and walls, advertising a product from a company.The screen features many striking colors, almost creating an illusion that the product is real. Such an illusion is also used in theater plays, and, for some, it’s quite controversial.
Traditionally, theaters use various objects as backdrops for plays. Some critics even argue that backdrops are a key element of production.However, some theaters have let go of traditional backdrops and embraced LED screens as a way to project dynamic backgrounds.
In a play titled JESUS by Sight & Sound, an LED screen was the main backdrop used to help project an authentic world in the background. Another theater that used an LED screen for its play is Tata Theater in India. The LED screen featured moving clouds for the play The Sound of Music. It showed audiences that LED screens could create scenery that traditional backdrops could not.
The use of LED screens as backdrops in theater plays might be a controversial topic in the industry, but it is undeniable that the technology has given the industry a leg up in production.LED screens help many theaters save time and money from printing traditional backdrops for their scenes and help further their plays as a whole.
Automation
Years ago, when automation wasn’t a technology used by theaters, it was difficult to make staggering visual effects and dynamic stages. Back then, audiences had to be content with seeing a static stage with no life given to them at all.But audiences today get to see moving stages and actors flying in and off the stage all because of technology.
Take Cirque du Soleil theater for example.The theater has been using motion controls ever since it was introduced to the world. Sincethen, it has had stages that could tilt and rise and actors that could flip, fly, and climb safely without a need for anything else but automation. It has given audiences something to gasp about without the worry of what has happened.
The use of automation has given a new benchmark for theaters all around the world.Audiences are now looking for something spectacular to happen because they know that the impossible in plays is now possible.
It’s hard to look back ona time when theater plays didn’t have the technology in their hands to make the impossible possible. It was also a dangerous time when many stage managers hadto handle hazardous moving parts in each play.
Today, that is no longer the case.Through the use of technology, theater plays have been given the capability to make their actors fly and to move stages seemingly without any danger.Technology has certainly revolutionized how we see plays and helped make experiences that we could remember for the rest of our lives.
