Reimagining Production Pedagogy in Response to COVID-19: A New Pedagogical Model for Creating Virtual Online Performance

In the face of a global pandemic, with the shutdown of the Australian theatre industry and the wholesale shift to online modes of delivery within tertiary institutions, Queensland University of Technology academics in performance production and scenography developed a new pedagogical approach to shift the highly practical, studio-based theatre production program into the online space. This paper will present the teaching model that emerged from the university’s Virtual Theatre Production (VTP) Project, a collaborative project which shifted normal performance processes for five student theatre works online. The VTP Project engaged students, staff, industry experts, designers, directors and partner companies in a new online collaborative process. Constrained by real-world budgets and restrictions, student designers, technicians and managers were guided by a team of expert lighting, vision, sound, set, props and curatorial mentors to combine traditional analogue techniques with digital design processes across a range of software and platforms. This paper will detail the development of the pedagogical approach that underpinned this work; the project’s strengths and weaknesses; and finally, present the tested model for future use in creating online training grounds for undergraduate production students in an unstable educational environment. The pedagogical model builds on the emerging conversations around performance training online during the COVID-19 pandemic (Cervera, Schmidt and Schwadron; Pike, Neideck and Kelly), and expands on the notion of crisis-prompted remote teaching (Gacs, Goetler and Spasova; Hodges, Moore, Lockee, Trust and Bond).