Re-imagining theater
Bradley actors use Internet II to put modern spin on play

Images of blasted buildings and screaming fighter planes flash across the screens. A fallen dictator's supporters rally to oppose enemy troops. A divided nation teeters on war's brink.

No, this isn't Iraq. It's the ancient Greek city of Thebes from Sophocles' "Antigone" - as re-imagined in a new, unusual production at Bradley University, which receives its debut at noon today for a select audience of staff and administrators.

The 2,500-year-old tragedy receives a 21st century spin thanks to high-speed Internet access - which enables live actors and audiences in Peoria to share performance time with virtual actors and audiences from Orlando, Fla.

This unique collaboration between Bradley's theater department and the University of Central Florida attempts to push theatrical boundaries. It raises questions about how the theater of the future might depart dramatically from the theater of today, according to George Brown, associate professor of the theater arts.

"Now that we have an almost real-time, instant access (Internet) bandwidth . . . it gives us a laboratory to play with," said Brown, after a rehearsal Wednesday in Room 124 of Bradley's Caterpillar Global Communication Center, "to see if we can create interpersonal relationships between characters, to see if we can establish a relationship with the audience although the audience is 3,000 miles away. We can see if we can tell a story and integrate the technology into enhancing the story rather than degrading the story."

Technology re-shaping theater is nothing new - starting with the Greeks, who used levers to lower gods onto the stage; to modern directors, who employ all manner of technology-driven special effects. Bradley's newly acquired Internet II technology opens up a whole new range of possibilities, according to Brown. Internet II allows users to send and receive visual signals simultaneously, with an unusual level of clarity.

Besides its technological capacities, Room 124 has the right look for the show - a set of television sets arranged in the shape of an octagon dominate the center of a huge, doughnut- shaped table. Usually employed for teleconferences, the room has the feel of a United Nations chamber, complete with clocks on the wall giving the time for London, Moscow, Beijing, Sydney and Thebes. (The last clock normally is labeled "Peoria" but has been changed for this show.)

In fact, this 20-minute adaptation of "Antigone" asks the audience to imagine that it is at an emergency teleconference between the central Theban government and an outpost on the battle lines of a civil war. The Peoria and Orlando cast is made up of student and professional performers from Bradley and the University of Central Florida. Brown performs one of the play's central characters, King Creon.

Director John Wayne Shafer, UCF theater professor, compares such technological experiments with the early days of movie-making. Bradley and UCF are among less than a half dozen groups nationwide to blend new technology and live performance. Undoubtedly, more experiments will follow, using Bradley's venture as an example.

"What we're talking about is using some of the leaps we've had in technology and using them to enhance the live performance experience and the clear telling of the story," Shafer said via teleconference after the play. "Technology like this is going to change what and how we perform for live audiences."