The Data Fluencies Theatre Project at Emerson College seeks interdisciplinary performers to join an artistic research team that will co-create a participatory, devised, hybrid multimedia performance that engages with AI systems. Performers will be involved as engaged collaborators and co-creators in the development process of the performance. 

 

The performance will seek to imagine and enact alternative socio-technical systems that strive towards pluriversal future-presents and ways of world-making. The performance will be developed in Boston and online and will be performed in person in Boston and Vancouver as well as online. The performance’s hybrid format, including both in-person and online components, aims to expand access and engage the Internet as both a stage for performance and an object of investigation and critique. Key collaborators on the performance include Ioana B. Jucan, Katherine Helen Fisher, CultureHub, and Sydney Skybetter.

 

The Data Fluencies Theatre Project is part of the multi-institutional Data Fluencies Project based out of the Digital Democracies Institute at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada and funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. The Data Fluencies Project investigates the impacts of mis- and disinformation on society by combining analytical techniques from arts and humanities with tools from data science to better understand and engage with our data-filled world. 

 

To Apply: 

Please fill out and submit this application form by April 1, 2023. Short-listed candidates will be invited for callbacks on April 10 or 12, 2023.

 

Skills and Qualifications:

- Experience with improvisation, devising, and movement is highly desirable. 

- The ability to conduct research and apply it in the context of an artistic performance is required.

- Experience performing in multimedia environments is a plus. 

- Being based in the Boston area is welcome but not required. Given the possibility of performing remotely, performers who are not based in Boston or the United States are welcome to apply.

 

Responsibilities:

- Commit to attending all of the meetings and participating in all the activities outlined in the “Timeline” section below.

- Engage in a devising process with an interdisciplinary team of collaborators that will result in a devised theatre performance to take place both online and in person.

- Other responsibilities as devised.

 

Timeline*:

- May 2023-August 2024: Monthly meetings/rehearsals (one or two days a month for a maximum of 4 hours per month total), except for the months during which there is a performance development intensive. Depending on where the team members are based, the meeting may be held either online or in person.

- November 2023: A one week online or hybrid performance development                 intensive. 

- Summer 2024: A one week hybrid performance development intensive. 

- Fall 2024: Rehearsals. 

- Spring 2025: Performances in Boston and Vancouver, Canada. 

 

*Except where otherwise specified, the exact production schedule—including meetings, rehearsals, intensives, and performances—will be determined in consultation with the performance venue and team*

 

Compensation: 

A $5000 stipend will be provided for participation, with $1000 being paid in September 2023, $1000 in January 2024, $1000 in September 2024, $2000 in March 2025

 

Questions?

For any questions or more information, please contact data.fluencies.theatre@gmail.com.