Location: MOP2, Aula Design 

moderated by Pam Scorzin (Vice Dean FB Design) and Tobias Bieseke (storyLab kiU)

Stage Directions: Navigating Theater's AI Future" 

In his guest lecture, renowned Stanford University Professor and theater director Michael Rau bridges theatrical traditions with Silicon Valley technologies. From an AI performance system that creates visual "secondary stories" alongside actors to a computer vision system that detects performers' movements for new analytical approaches, this talk will explore ways to integrate technology into storytelling without losing the performance's human heart.

About our speaker:

Michael Rau is a live performance director specializing in new plays, opera, and digital media projects. He has worked internationally in Germany, Brazil, the UK, Ireland, Canada, and the Czech Republic. He has created work in New York City at Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, PS122, HERE Arts Center, Ars Nova, The Bushwick Starr, The Brick, 59E59, 3LD, and Dixon Place. Regionally, his work has been seen at the Ingenuity Festival in Cleveland, OH, and the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, MA. He has developed new plays at the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, the Lark, and the Kennedy Center. Michael Rau is a recipient of fellowships from the Likhachev Foundation, the Kennedy Center, and the National New Play Network. He has been a resident artist at the Orchard Project, E|MERGE, and the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. He has been an associate director for Anne Bogart, Les Waters, Robert Woodruff, and Ivo Van Hove. He is a New York Theater Workshop Usual Suspect as well as a professor of directing and devising at Stanford University, and a former fellow of the Dortmund Akademie für Theater und Digitalität.

Note: This lecture and Q&A session will be conducted in English.

Additionally, we have the pleasure of hosting special guests afterward, MAR ATZIN and Sophia Schachtner, who will present a video performance piece. Don’t miss.