April 9, 2024
The Immersive Experiences course through Texas Immersive Institute is debuting an interactive event, Elysian Heights, which asks the question "What if Austin was ruled by artificial intelligence?" The creative team bringing this project to life features multiple UT Theatre and Dance students.
Sponsored by Netspend and created by the graduating cohort of Texas Immersive Institute (TXI) and Director, Professor Erin Reilly, Elysian Heights is an immersive experience aiming to blend mixed reality and embedded narrative to communicate the story behind the title city. The physical experience has users engage with space, as well as each other, by creating and solving escape room puzzle mechanics alongside emerging technology.
This interactive exhibit serves as a final project for the Immersive Experiences course, the third and final course in the Texas Immersive sequence. Students have spent the entire spring semester collaborating on this project, from development to design.
Elysian Heights features the work of a number of Department of Theatre and Dance students. Current undergraduate student Amber Huchton serves as the creative director for the piece. The team also recruited students Eli Mendenhall, Austin Brian Taylor, Macy Butler and Juliana Etienne-Smith to voice characters within the world of Elysian Heights. Additionally, M.F.A. candidate AJ Hurtado served as the Teaching Assistant for the Immersive Experiences course.
We spoke with Amber Huchton about her experience working on this immersive project:
“I am a very busy person, a current undergraduate studying design and technology and a current Texas Immersive Explorer while also pursuing my Bridging Disciplines certificate in Digital Arts & Media. Creative directing for Elysian Heights, this year’s TXI Immersive Production capstone, allowed me to merge all these worlds I exist in into one! As primarily a content creator, I had yet to have experience with directing a whole, full-length production, let alone one that involves voice actors, full-space projections, interactive Unity games, Augmented Reality and more. My favorite part about working on this project is including my friends and classmates from the Department of Theatre and Dance and bringing them in as voice actors. It was amazing to watch them perform and have them work their magic on something so personal to me. I thank them for their patience with endlessly changing plotlines and re-recordings.
Additionally, I am so grateful for my experience at the Texas Immersive Institute and for collaborating with undergraduate and graduate students of all different majors and focuses. I would like to thank Erin Reilly, the professor in charge of this capstone project, for believing in me and my vision for Elysian Heights. I would also like to thank UT Theatre and Dance Live Design alum Ben Randall and current grad student AJ Hurtado for their endless patience with my ambitions and for helping us with everything lighting/projection related. Finally, I would like to thank Live Design alum Jackson Cobb for allowing me to assist them on Jinkies! or The Dog Play (UTNT (UT New Theatre)) all those years ago, without which I wouldn’t have decided to pursue technical theatre, and I wouldn’t be directing this project in the first place. Come see Elysian Heights this April 11-13 for a one-of-a-kind, interactive narrative experience!”
Elysian Heights opens on April 11 and will run until April 13, 2024 at dadaLab in Austin, Texas. Visit Texas Immersive Institute's website to learn more.