Year of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

Theatre

Department or School/College

Department of Theatre and Dance

Committee Chair

Bernadette Sweeney

Commitee Members

Albert Borgmann, Jillian Campana

Keywords

Technology, Theatre, Liveness, Millennial Generation

Publisher

University of Montana

Abstract

This work examines the modern technoculture, its component parts and the changing role of theatre in Anglo-American culture. Our contemporary society is marked by the ubiquity of digital technologies and has become reliant on their commodities. The emerging Millennial Generation has matured with many of these devices and has embraced the modern technoculture. Many changes in daily life brought on by new technologies are obvious, but fundamental shifts remain obscured by the nature of technology itself. These subtle transformations are cumulative and have caused a technological disorientation with broad reaching implications. Liveness, initially defined as that which is unrecorded, has been perceived in many new technological formats. This phenomenon, combined with pervasive digitization of information and entertainment has minimized the cultural significance of the theatrical arts. Theatre, however, offers a form of liveness that cannot be digitized. In its varied iterations, theatre may be a vital forum for combating technological disorientation and fostering pertinent social discourse as the technoculture develops.

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© Copyright 2012 Reid J. Reimers