An audience fitted with i-Glasses! can see live actors onstage and projected images at the same time.

PLAY by Samuel Beckett

In March of 1996, a small test of a new audience/VR interface was held in the design studio of KU's Murphy Hall. Under the direction of graduate student Lance Gharavi, Samuel Beckett's PLAY was presented to an audience of six wearing i-glasses! Actors were previously videotaped in 3-D. During the performance they were super-imposed over a 3-D virtual world was navigated in real time. Lance himself played the part of "The Light", a live character that manipulated the audience's view of the performance. In costume and makeup, Lance was visible through the translucent screens of the i-glasses!. By manipulation of lighting conditions and the composition of the virtual worlds, Lance appeared as a ghostly figure looming over and behind the three characters. Pretty cool! 
 
 

A still from the laboratory production of PLAY. As seen through the i-glasses!
 

This project is sponsored in part by The United States Institute for Theatre Technology