Digital Media, Projection Design, and Technology for Theatre

Chapter 1Introduction

From Firepit to Kindle Fire, the Rise of Digital Media

Thousands of years ago, a storyteller sat beside a fire and shared a tale with an audience. This is theatre in its most raw and ancient venue. Since then, theatrical forms and functions have evolved through thousands of permutations and cultural adaptations. From civil discourse in ancient Greece to hip-hop musicals on Broadway, the way we tell theatrical stories has advanced with each new technological invention or shift in artistic aesthetics or societal mores within the world’s vast cultures. The techniques for creating theatrical productions do not exist in a vacuum; the practices used in theatre are an amalgamation of tools and methods from the cultures it exists ...