Tonight I had the privilege to attend the dress rehearsal of The Circle, the SJSU drama production of the winter season. This production is truly unique and a first of its kind; an interactive drama performance. Each attendee is immersed into the atmosphere of The Circle and lead through various events through the performance. While I am not a studio major, I have a unique perspective of being a game designer in order to observe the play.
The entire performance is, in a sense, a game. The "players", which are the attendees, have various options and choices they can make which lead them through the production and to different narratives. Then there are collective sessions where everyone gathers at the same time to hear the same narrative. This provides people with different paths to take, and a different perspective for each event.
That being said, I felt each attendee had little to no control over the events of The Circle. The performers drove most of the narrative and the meetings felt very scripted. This lead to a perspective of minimal contribution. However, there was plenty of interaction between attendee and performer, being it an interview or a company survey.
This production was designed to be different and it really was. During the show it felt like a game, where I was a secondary character who was stumbling onto a conspiracy and I had to discover the truth without being caught. It caused a very interesting atmosphere which is different then any other drama production I had ever seen.
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