Dōkutsu

Dōkutsu (cave in Japanese) is a representation of HummingbirdVR, a multi-user interactive virtual reality theatrical experience presented during the New Stages 2021 festival by the Chicago Goodman Theatre. The project aims to make live theater more accessible to younger audiences and bring cutting edge virtual reality interaction techniques into a live theatrical performance. The experience is developed in collaboration with award-winning playwright Jo Cattell to balance her initial vision within the technical constraints, while emphasizing real-time VR interaction. The representative image depicts the fusion of the virtual cave environment as seen through the participant’s head mounted display and the photo of the participants during the show. This image demonstrates the perfect alignment of the virtual environment with the real world so that the participants see each other’s avatar in VR exactly at the same location as they would in the real world. The experience is brought together using custom-designed network infrastructure to facilitate seamless interaction among the VR participants. The large display acts as a lens into the virtual world providing the audience with a real time view, making them a part of the digital fairytale.