Musical Theatre Factory to Launch the MTFxR Garage

Musical Theatre Factory will launch the MTFxR Garage, a bold 6-day collaboration at the intersection of musical theatre and extended reality hosted by NYU ITP/IMA and Media Commons at 370 Jay, a cutting-edge XR facility in Downtown Brooklyn.

Visioned and shepherded by MTFxR Program's Manager Brandon Powers, this experience will bring together teams of professional artists and student technologists to co-create new prototypes of musical theatre XR works.

From virtual reality to motion capture and beyond, this hands-on laboratory of innovation is rooted in three driving values: education, collaboration, and field building. The Garage equips professional artists and students from NYU and CCNY with experiential learning, mentorship, and a collaborative process that expands their creative toolkits. By building authentic partnerships between educational institutions, creative technology, and the nonprofit/commercial arts sectors, we are creating intentional ecosystems to support musical storytelling with the potential to triple its impact and reach. We are seeding the future of theatre with new creative strategies, storytelling techniques, and development processes that reach people far beyond the mezzanine.

The hackathon consists of 3 teams that will conceptualize and build new XR-based musical theatre works. The final day culminates in a public summit, featuring sharings of the projects, discussions, and workshops with theatre industry leaders, XR visionaries, and the MTF community, leaving everyone to walk away with tangible solutions and next steps.

"At MTF, we believe technology is a tool for justice and liberation and we are proud to lead the nation in supporting artists exploring how that is possible through musical storytelling" says Powers. "We aren't looking to replace theatre in physical spaces, but rather engage artists in exploring the possibilities for transforming their practices, work, and livelihoods with technology. Building the future takes a deep, rigorous collaboration between artists and technologists, and the Garage serves as a place for such collaborations to thrive."