From Sketch to Stage

Hummingbird is an award-winning interdisciplinary VR performance that investigates hybrid immersive design through co-located, participatory storytelling that blends live theater with collaborative interaction. Unlike single-user VR experiences, this performance employs a distinct co-located structure: five active participants and a live actor, all wearing VR headsets, collaborate in real time, while a larger group of observers watches the narrative unfold on real-time video walls. Developed by design and computer science faculty and students in partnership with theater professionals, the project reconceptualizes narrative structure, aesthetics, and audience engagement by integrating principles from immersive theater, digital performance, VR art, and gaming. The project addresses the challenge of balancing narrative coherence with participant agency through a conceptual framework of “constrained modular narrative” and custom adaptive technologies. This system allows the live performer to function as a stage manager, dynamically adjusting pacing and cues to maintain a consistent runtime across diverse audiences. Mixed qualitative evidence from over five hundred attendees indicates that performer mediation improved narrative legibility, collaborative mechanics increased presence and teamwork, and layered reward structures sustained engagement. Hummingbird proposes a replicable model for hybrid VR theater that integrates thoughtful design and adaptive technology to create co-located, engaging multi-user experiences. It contributes actionable design principles while critically discussing key constraints, specifically scalability and resource intensity, that impact the future of this medium.