The State of Being Happy

Overview

In early 2019, I formed a theatre company with four other students at Cal Poly: Spork in the Road Theatre Company. Four months later, we opened our first, original production.

The State of Being Happy was really the first show of its kind: a live piece of theatre where the audience made decisions for the characters onstage in real time. This was facilitated by a web application that I wrote, as well a piece of software that interfaced with existing theatre control systems, which enabled fluid lighting and video shifts based off audience decisions.

Screenshot of website used for live voting during the show

My team and I hung 12 individual video screens which were powered by two eGPUs connected to a Mac Mini (that also hosted the polling software for interfacing with the audience).

Computer rendering of the set design, including the 12 video screens.

As producer, I acquired funds for the production by applying for the Cal Poly Connect Grant and running a crowdfunding campaign. I also managed the theatre rental and other production logistics.

I also did the lighting, sound, and projection design for the show.

Credits

Tuesday, March 12, 2019