Virtual Reality to Virtual Learning?

The article, The Rise and Fall and Rise of Virtual Reality by TheVerge.com presents a compelling overview of the history of Virtual Reality and where new VR technology may be going today. As a theatre educator, I wonder what the implications of such technology could be for the theatre classroom.

While different theories of acting abound, most theatre teachers and theorists would agree that the expansion of one's human experience is of tremendous benefit for any actor's work. Some believe that the greatest acting derives from re-living past experiences. Others feel that while a plethora of past-experiences cannot and need not be called upon by every actor, each actor can nonetheless imagine what he or she would do if a particular experience were to arise. Still others believe that what is most important to an actor is to live in the moment, learning to take in what is happening all around and to respond to it truthfully. The story may be fabricated, make-believe, but the actors' experiences on stage need not be.

With this in mind, I wonder how Virtual Reality technology might be implemented in the training of young theatre artists. For those who believe that past experiences are necessary in order to recreate their reality on stage, Virtual Reality might provide just such experiences for the actor to draw upon, fabricated though they are. For those on the opposite side of the spectrum who believe that imagination is the key to embodying realistic actions and characters on stage, Virtual Reality may likewise provide just such opportunities to practice living in an imaginary world. And for those who propose that acting is all about experiencing each moment as it comes and responding truthfully to those moments, Virtual Reality might be the perfect arena in which an actor's sensitivity to the world (or worlds) around him are sharpened.

Advanced technology aside, could it not be said that acting in itself is the most basic form of Virtual Reality? Real people agree to assume characters outside of themselves inside of a world that is not their own, all within the constructs of an external designer. Perhaps we already have all of the Virtual Reality we need.