Trans Cyborg Theatre: Digital Technology & Media in Performance
Loading...
Authors
Conroy, Marisa
Issue Date
2023-05-01
Type
thesis_open
Language
Keywords
transgender , cyborg theatre , digital technology , media integration in performance , Theatre and Performance Studies
Alternative Title
Theatre Thesis - Written Thesis
Abstract
Trans cyborg artists use digital technology to expand their identity beyond the confines of their physical form, to carve out a new space for themselves within a cis-heteronotmative theatrical society, and to protect themselves and their communities from danger. Through the use of trans cyborg figures, trans cyborg theatre artists challenge traditional notions of gender, subjectivity, and narrative in the present mediatized world by integrating digital technology and the human body on stage. This disruption of the gender binary creates a new form of theatre, trans cyborg theatre, that emphasizes the co-presence of the performer and digital technology. There is a small but mighty community of trans artists working within cyborg theatre who merge their bodies with digital technology in performance in a myriad of different ways. From Lu Yang’s DOKU (2023), a massive avatar created though motion capture technology, to Evan Silver’s identity blurring projections on their body in Creep, to micha cárdena’s Local Autonomy Networks (Autonets) that creates autonomous safety networks for women, people of color and members of the LGBTQIA+ community through electronic clothing, trans artists are using body integrated digital technology to create trans cyborg theatre.