Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Fall 12-4-2025

Faculty Advisor(s)

Dr. Jocelyn Buckner

Abstract

Creating immersive theatre differs from traditional theatre in its use of found spaces that lack visual barriers between the audience and the performers. Additionally, the order of scenes are performed in can change for each performance. The delineation of scenes is often defined by a change in location or scheduled time. For these reasons and more, immersive theatre presents many unique challenges for artists working in this medium. In particular, the role of stage managers is complicated by the opportunity for complications inherent in performances featuring audience interaction in close quarters. Audience behavior is at once both an unknown variable and a piece of the performance that must be accounted for while in the pre-production phase. Stage managers aim to be prepared and proactive in their management style, which is at odds with the atmosphere of spontaneity cultivated by immersive theatre. As a theatre student studying stage management, my cohorts and I should be educated in how immersive theatre operates, as we will likely begin working in these spaces after completing our education. My methodology is to create various paperwork templates based on publicly available stage management resources and adapt them to be suited towards the specific needs of immersive productions. I will be adapting paperwork templates from backstage theatre educators, technical theatre blogs, and online stage management forums. I am taking from a variety of publicly available sources in hopes of capturing an accurate picture of the templates that working stage managers are using. Additionally, I will be using information from these sources on how best to write and format these forms.

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Presented at the Fall 2025 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

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