Transmedia: Storytelling for the Digital Age

Scott Juster:  "What happens when a production company stages an interactive theater experiment? It starts to resemble a video game."

Leslie Horn: 'Come with me. I've got something to show you. A dark-haired woman clad in a long beaded dress said this to me as she whisked me away into the strange underworld of "Sleep No More."'

Teressa Iezzi: "Through Punchdrunk, Barrett has sought to create experiences that challenge audiences to physically interact with a narrative, and that push the idea of entertainment into a more primal place, where a show becomes a thing that happens to you because of decisions you make, not just something you watch passively."

Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan: "In theater, there’s a concept called the “fourth wall.” It refers to performances that involve the audience, breaking down the invisible “wall” between performer and spectator. A new project from Pentagram goes even further, breaking down the “fifth wall” between the performer and a digital audience."

"Basetrack, a social media reporting project that accompanied a marine battalion on a deployment in Afghanistan, will be adapted into a series of theater performances [...] at Juilliard in New York."

For more on this interesting multiplatform project read Bringing the war in Afghanistan home, by iPhone.

When London’s Punchdrunk Theatre Company opened Sleep No More in March 2011 in an abandoned warehouse block in New York, few imagined it would still be running a year later...

Frank Rose: "People have always wanted to immerse themselves in stories, and digital media have given them any number of ways to do so, from Grand Theft Auto and L.A. Noire to alternate-reality games like Why So Serious?, which drew more than 10 million people into the saga of The Dark Knight before the movie opened. But the desire for immersion has spilled over into the purely analog world as well, as Sleep No More attests."

ZED:  An apocalypse story told in 3 theatrical events over half a year, with online and offline activities that bridge the narrative in between.

[A look at a great project which is "making theatre interactive, and embracing transmedia storytelling."]

"The live production, written by Matt Pelfrey and directed by Dámaso Rodriguez, employs projected illustrations, intense fight choreography, and compelling characters to immerse the viewer in the action"...

Yomi Ayeni:  "I’m often asked what the interactive theatrical experience Clockwork Watch is, and the answer changes with each stage of the production. The underlying objective, though, is to create a fictional Victorian universe and tell a story where the narrative is delivered through live events, graphic novels, role-play, online news sites, and a feature film, all co-authored by the audience, through their interactions with our make-believe world over the next five years" ...

Joe Berkowitz: "It took DreamWorks years of work and countless decisions to translate “How to Train Your Dragon” into a live experience. The result is an achievement not just in pyrotechnics, but in collaboration and brand extension" ...

Liz Shannon Miller: "Whether you spell it "theatre" or "theater," any fan of classic or contemporary theatrical works ought to check out the full-length productions available through VOD site Digital Theatre."

Chaunton: "This week, we are hopping back across the pond to visit an American production of what has proven to be one of the most enduring and successful immersive theater experiences of the new millennium, Sleep No More."

Serena Solomon: "A Lower East Side love story told through an iPhone app is at the center of a walking tour and performance art piece about to kick off next month" ...

An intriguing interactive theatre project from Goat and Monkey looks set to bring alternate reality gaming to the great gardens of Sussex...

[An ARG mystery which culminates in a series of interactive garden performances.  And, as the article states "This modern notion of interactive theatre, which combines location, narrative and interaction with actors has been growing in popularity for the last five years."]