RANDOM ACTOR

The idea behind RANDOM ACTOR was to try to find a new kind of design language for the theater that would allow the audience to perceive the interior psychological movement of the character, visually.

-Clay Hopper, Senior Lecturer, BU School of Theatre

 

Five years ago, Hopper was introduced to James Grady, creative director of BU Spark! and assistant professor of art and graphic design, and the two embarked upon a collaboration that sought to bring together their interests of interactive media and computer-generated art into the world of theatre.

While digital backdrops and rear projection screens are commonplace in theatrical productions, Hopper wanted to take this technology one step further to combine conventional projection mapping technology with interactive, generative-computer graphics and computational vision to create a completely fluid, engaging and projected environment with performers.

The result of this, RANDOM ACTOR, is a new software program that allows for real-time design with an intuitive user interface eliminating the need for designers to write code.

“The goal has always been, how do we build a tool that doesn’t need people to recode it—that we can support so theater students can use it, designers can use it, and developers can build on top of it,” Grady said in an interview with BU Today.

The project team’s early work found that when attempting to stage a play within an immersive, fully projected-media environment, the normal system of rehearsal was insufficient for the aesthetic application they were pursuing. Because of the inordinate amount of time spent adjusting/writing code, the team developed a no-code software application that could change the values of any given generative algorithm in real time as they worked in rehearsal with performers and other designers.

To move this project toward completion, the project team partnered with the Shipley Center, whose financial support allowed them to enlist the help of a Visiting Interdisciplinary/Interactive Media Artist in Residence, Paolo Scoppola, in the Spring of 2022. Scoppola worked with students in The School of Visual Arts, The School of Theatre, and The Center for Computing and Data Sciences on a production of a play, EXIT THE KING by Eugène Ionesco, produced by the College of Fine Arts. This production was the pilot for – and featured the deployment of – RANDOM ACTOR.

“The continued evolution of the technology relies on the collaboration between fine art and computer science students. In that sense, it’s a prime example of cross-college collaboration,” according to Chris Dellarocas, associate provost for Digital Learning and Innovation.

Today, RANDOM ACTOR, is moving toward its finalized form, after receiving an ACT grant from the Shipley Center in 2023, which allowed the project team to acquire a faster graphics-processing computer to improve the real-time interplay of the graphics with performers.

In an interview with BU Today, Shipley Center Project Manager, Diane Carroll, said that one of the things that's exciting about RANDOM ACTOR is that it “will become a tool that can be used for other applications across the University.” Currently, the team is moving toward commercializing RANDOM ACTOR for broader applications across fields and disciplines.

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In the News

Hopper, C. (2024, July). The Intersection of Ancient Storytelling Techniques and Emerging Technology. Presented at the 21st annual conference of International University Global Theatre Experience. Laubegg, Austria.

Hopper, C., Carroll, D. (2023, March). Opening Night: Implementing Emerging Technologies with Emerging Artists. Presentation at NERCOMP Annual Conference. Providence, RI.

Read the May 4, 2022 BU Today story: Exit the King, and Enter Random Actor

March 2022 BU College of Fine Arts workshop with Paolo Scoppola:

Project Team & Partners

Clay Hopper

Project Team chopper@bu.edu

-- Please select a member -- Clay Hopper, Project Team James Grady, Project Team Ziba Cranmer, Project Partner Greta Bruce, Project Partner Paolo Scoppola, Project Partner

• Clay Hopper Project Team
• James Grady Project Team
• Ziba Cranmer Project Partner
• Greta Bruce Project Partner
• Paolo Scoppola Project Partner

Clay Hopper is a Senior Lecturer in Directing at BU School of Theatre. Previously Clay served as the Associate Artistic Director of Olney Theatre Center and Director of both the National Players and the Summer Shakespeare Festival at OTC. Directing credits include Two Gentlemen of Verona, Twelfth Night, The…Read More

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Clay Hopper

Project Team chopper@bu.edu

Clay Hopper is a Senior Lecturer in Directing at BU School of Theatre. Previously Clay served as the Associate Artistic Director of Olney Theatre Center and Director of both the National Players and the Summer Shakespeare Festival at OTC. Directing credits include Two Gentlemen of Verona, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Amadeus. Hopper also directed Farragut North and Triumph of Love on Olney Theatre Center’s Main Stage and Call of the Wild, a musical adaptation of Jack London’s novel by Jon Lipsky, first as a workshop at Boston University, then as a touring production for The National Players on tour 59, culminating in the world premiere on Olney Theatre Center’s Main Stage in 2009.

Other recent credits include On the Verge or The Geography of Yearning at Contemporary America Theatre Festival Actor’s Lab. In 2002, Hopper founded and produced a new play series called New Works/After Hours at Lincoln Center Institute’s Clarke Studio Theatre. Off-off-Broadway: A Home Without by Robert Westfield, Different Zenby Clay Hopper with Third Eye Rep, Earthworms by Albert Innaurato with The Working Group, Triageby Chris Shiea with Miranda Theatre, and The Interrogation by Murphy Guyer with The Miranda Theatre. Hopper has formerly taught at Woolly Mammoth’s Theatre School and College of Wooster, where he directed King Lear and was visiting assistant professor in 2006. As Assistant Director, Hopper has worked at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Woolly Mammoth Theater Company. BFA from North Carolina School of the Arts and MFA from Boston University College of Fine Arts.