‘Ice-Nine’ To Bring Virtual Reality And Live Performance Together at Igloo Studio
An immersive performance experience featuring extended reality work by Texas A&M students will be presented Tuesday, April 16, at 6 p.m. in the Igloo Studio in the Langford C Building.
Hosted by the Institute for Applied Creativity in the Texas A&M School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, guests will experience a virtual-reality incorporated performance titled “Ice-Nine” in the studio’s 360-degree screen in Room 400A.
Dr. Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo, director of the institute, partnered with Michael Morran, technical director of “Non-Player Character,” an immersive and interactive live virtual-reality musical, to develop the performance.
Morran, Maurice Soque Jr. and Brendan Bradley — who created the musical — performed it alongside their team and students at the Black Box Theater in February. Wearing a VR headset, Bradley played a character in a video-game setting alongside four audience participants as they moved as avatars in the virtual world.
The collaboration continued post-performance. Seo and Morran worked with Michael Bruner, visiting lecturer; John Alberse, graduate researcher; and six students to create a performance during six workshops in March and April. The end product is a 10-minute performance of original work titled “Ice-Nine,” an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel “Cat’s Cradle.”
“It is going to touch all different levels of animation from 3D asset design and game design,” Morran said. “The biggest outcome we want is for students to leave with some skills and expertise in working across creative disciplines. Another main goal is to facilitate these connections between departments and between these areas that the students are studying.”
The skills students learned are applicable to working on virtual production sets or in motion-capture, Morran said.
“Doing this live is pretty novel,” he said. “When you see a live performance in virtual reality, you might think of a Travis Scott ‘Fortnite’ concert or a ‘Roblox’ concert. Something that includes a performer who has been prerecorded and can be streamed into a multiplayer VR space. We are performing a live multiplayer VR space. That is where I would say the hard skills are really tested.”
Karen Lopez, a freshman Visualization student, participated in the February musical with Bradley, then came to the workshops that followed it.
“I am a huge fan of VR,” Lopez said. “It is really exciting to be a part of this VR performance, and to see how far we can really push its limits. Working with Michael has been great, and it feels like an internship because I get to work with first-hand experience and practice.”
Lopez said “Ice-Nine” takes three characters through a journey to save the world. Through VR headsets, three players can view a 3D world inside the Igloo Studio, with eight audience members seated inside. The remaining audience members will view the game on screens outside the studio. All can respond to “yes or no” questions from the narrator in the game.
“The audience leads the characters through an environment to interact with,” she said. “There is a lot of sound design that we have to make sure it is effective for the people who are watching on a screen and for the people on the set. There is a lot of scripting too, and making decisions on who gets to play this part, and what happens with these characters.”
Hao Yi Tan, a junior computer science exchange student from Singapore University of Technology and Design, said he worked on the virtual sets in the game and is excited to see everyone’s work come together.
“The VR technology is here, and it is great we can all contribute to the technical side of things,” Tan said. “I think this is a very good opportunity for us to learn, and I hope everyone enjoys the show and has a new experience.”
Admission is limited to 25 participants. To reserve a spot, visit the EventBrite website.
Top photo: Brenden Bradley and Karen Lopez interact during “Non-Player Character,” an immersive and interactive live virtual-reality musical in February at Black Box Theater. Photo by Madeline Husby.
