"What Virtual Reality Can Learn From Theater" - Sebastian Herscher

Currently, virtual reality is mainly focused on an audience of one. But Sebastian Herscher believes that in order for virtual reality to reach its full potential, it needs to embrace collective storytelling. Fortunately, there’s a community that’s already adept in this form of storytelling and is uniquely suited to help make this vision a reality: The theater community. Herscher explains how the two can work together to bring amazing worlds and stories to life. Sebastian Herscher is the CEO and co-founder of Parallux and a PhD Candidate at the NYU Future Reality Lab. He has been building large-scale shared immersive experiences since early 2015, with credits including Technical Director of Mary and the Monster and CAVE, and multiple publications in SIGCHI, UIST, and SIGGRAPH. His company, Parallux, delivers world class immersive experiences to mass audiences. Working at the intersection of art, technology, and entertainment, the Parallux mission is to help people experience breathtaking new worlds together in a powerfully social and immersive way.