"It Appears to Be a Free-for-All": Designing for Audience Agency in an Immersive Theatre Environment (original) (raw)

While there have been a handful of learning scientists who have championed research in theatrical spaces, there is still so much more to learn from these incredibly rich learning environments. FORTS is an immersive theatrical production and informal learning space where participants actively co-create knowledge through improvisational and collaborative processes. It was developed by a team of theatrical designers in much the same way that learning scientists design learning environments-through iterative cycles of design. This qualitative case study examines what the lead designer of FORTS learned through engaging in its design and implementation. A narrative of the design process was constructed from an interview with the designer which discussed her goals, original design decisions, expectations, feedback, reflections, and iterative design decisions. The theme of agency emerged as foundational to the designer's iterative process and to her shifting understanding of the relationship between immersive theatre design and its participants.