The Flight Out of Naturalism and into Live Cinema Jay Scheib 02/16/2015

Everywhere, a thirst for the Real, for an ensnaring Reality that transcends the theater in space, time and action testifies to a craving for experiences that near the actual cruelties inherent in our own Real lives and the lives of others. This desire for something of an actual experience in the face of so much fiction masquerading as fact, is tangible. Like an itch that only immersive theater, embedded journalists, or all-star-wrestling (Barthes) could scratch. My intention in making this foray to the heart of Naturalism was to exit it. The degree to which technology interferes or enhances our ability to perceive narrative realities as real reality on the stage, comprises, by and large, the spectrum of my research as a playwright, director, scenographer, and technologist. I entered naturalism in order to leave it. And so my Flight out of Naturalism as a formal consideration has given way to LIVE CINEMA. This talk discusses that process of ten years.