Theatre and cyberspace: The contribution of the theatrical past to performance of the future

The Internet is an exploration site for artists creating new forms of performance using this new medium as a stage and for artists re-creating traditional performance forms in a new venue through digital technology. This study examines the common ground and differences between emerging cyberspace performances and traditional theatre forms. How are dramas being enacted in cyberspace through the agency of human beings, and how does the computer interface become a mirror held up to nature? What is the contribution of theatre theory and history in understanding and evaluating these new performances? Various Internet performance forms are examined, including chat rooms, multi-user-domains, multi-media web pages, multi-player role-playing games, streaming media, and webcasting. Performances are compared to traditional theatrical forms and practices, including acting, spectating, playwriting, directing, designing, and producing. Aesthetic distance, empathy, catharsis, the willing suspension of disbelief, and the interactive audience are examined. Frustrations and successes of artists are addressed through interviews with Internet performance creators. This study serves as a documentary of early Internet performance forms, as well as an examination of the scope and creativity of digital theatre artists. The Internet is determined to be a viable performance space in an early stage of development that holds promise for the future of theatre and performance, but which, at this time, is difficult for artists to access due to the complexity of technology and the high cost of equipment and expertise.