Beyond Fun and Games : Interactive Theatre and Serious Games with Social Impact

PhD Case Study in Interactive Media

How can forum theatre and serious videogames activate us to better understand urgent social and political issues? Further to this, how might one create an art object or event that performs this task?

Interrogations that are being used as a basis for the research include: a) What is the process by which improvisational and activist theatre might be combined with computer technologies to create innovative interactive media art? b) How can these artifacts and events bring awareness to audience participants about social, political, environmental, and moral issues, and c) How might the participants follow up? and d) What's "Art" got to do with it?

Here's a boil-down of PhD projects as of Summer 2008:

The Spies Information Wiki . Includes a PhD Thesis pdf download and lists of links.

The Thesis Video Trailer: Fun Games and the Alberta Oilsands.

The Pipeline Pinball Energy Thrill Ride Game

The Oilsands Watch: Interactive Forum Theatre Cinema Game. March, 2008.

The One-Act Play Festival Production, March 2007.