SYNOPSIS

What happens when technology becomes more than a tool and begins to shape the way we gather, create, and experience live performance?

In this installment of A Forge Theater Labs In Conversation Series, Forge Theater Labs partners with Portland Ovations for Seeking Resonance: Virtual Worlds, a roundtable series bringing together artists working at the intersection of creative design, digital technology, and immersive live experience.

Hosted by Josh Hsu, Founder and Artistic Director of Forge Theater Labs, with guest host Katelyn Manfre, Director of Community Programs and Partnerships and Accessibility Coordinator at Ovations, the conversation features Chris Sousa Wynn, Meghna Singh, and James LaPlante.

Together, they explore what “immersive” actually means, where technology enters the creative process, and how artists navigate the increasingly complicated questions surrounding AI, authorship, accessibility, and digital ethics.

But the conversation goes beyond the tools themselves.

How can technology deepen our sense of presence rather than divide our attention? Can accessibility become an artistic catalyst? How do we invite new audiences into performance without sacrificing the communal experience at the heart of live art? And as artists collaborate more frequently with programmers, engineers, algorithms, and emerging systems, where does authorship live?

Looking toward the future, the group considers what artists and institutions need in order to experiment responsibly, what emerging artists should be learning now, and what possibilities become available when technology is placed in service of human connection.

Ultimately, Seeking Resonance returns to a simple question:

In a world where we can experience almost anything through a screen, why does gathering together still matter?

This episode is brought to you in part by Maine Humanities Council and Indigo Arts Alliance.