A Christmas Carol VR
Overview
A Christmas Carol VR is a live, real-time immersive adaptation of Dickens' classic, blending immersive theater with cutting-edge technology. Live actors with facial and motion capture perform on the streets of a virtual Victorian London.
About the Project
Initially, we partnered with Actors Theater of Louisville for their annual in-person production of A Christmas Carol in 2021. Their new artistic director, Robert Barry Fleming, had seen our presentation of That Kind of Guy at the TCG Conference earlier in the year, and wanted to engage us to help create and integrate digital characters and environments in to their live show. In years since, ATL gave us their blessing to remount it annually however we'd like, and it has become a yearly R&D tradition for us. Each year we set out to try out new production systems, from distribution and ticket management to motion capture solutions and actor/audience interaction methods.
Video
Credits and Collaborators
Ari Tarr as Dickens, Scrooge, Others
Debbie Deer as the Ghosts
Based on the novella "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens
Adapted and Directed for VR by: David Gochfeld
Based on the adaptation by: Robert Barry Fleming
Stage Manager: Stef Buckner
Associate Stage Manager: Josi Morgan
Lead Developer: Yu-Jun Yeh
Developer Team: Yu-Jun Yeh, Dante Cameron, Josi Morgan, Marshall Nowak, Alex Coulombe
XR Performance Consultant: Ari Tarr
QA: Michael Burgess
Environmental Design: Delta Ark, Dante Cameron, Josi Morgan, Sarah Reed
Sound Design: Josi Morgan
Software Engineer: Eytan Manor
Producers: Alex Coulombe, Kevin Laibson
Livestream Cinematographer: Jackie Roman
Camera Operator and Streamer: Carlos Austin
Camera Operator: John Harvey
Special thanks to Alex from outofthebox-plugins.com for UE Plugin upgrade assistance
FGI X Miami 2023 premiere with support from Z by HP
Meta Quest Pros and Puget Workstation support from Impossible Ventures
First produced in 2021 in association with Actors Theatre of Louisville
Written and Directed by: Robert Barry Fleming
XR Producer: Zachary Meicher-Buzzi
Digital Performance Specialist: Rob Lester
Technical Artists: Alden Pedula, Adam Vosburgh
Motion Capture Artists: Kavin Moore and Brittany "BeeBee" Patillo
Scenic Design: Katelin Ashcraft
Costume Designer: Anna Jenny
Sound Design: Paul Doyle