This project has been developed and curated since its inception collaboratively, with particular attention to the treatment of the narrative specifically for the intended media. We want to create a multi-faceted, time-restricted narrative arc that sets the audience up for an immersive theatre installation. We will be periodically releasing pieces of the story through different mediums as the narrative timeline progresses.

The narrative was developed as a statement that blends fiction with the real world themes of morality, justice and secrecy. It focuses on a political figurehead, who appears to despise the way university education is structured and the many benefits to the youth culture, in his eyes are freeloading off the tax dollar. Jeff Shroud wants to cut funding to universities and cut student welfare to make the very institution of tertiary education a more exclusive opportunity that should not be taken on lightly. His views and campaign advertising which will have a physical manifestation around RMIT city campus, draws the attention of a student-run protest group known as ACTIV. They are extremely opposed to his proposed policies, believing that all education should be free and there should be equal opportunities for all. After trading insults, the two disparate parties escalate their public feud by slandering and releasing defamatory statements about one another. ACTIV plans for a large-scale protest day, where they will raise awareness and seek as many followers as they can find who will join them in bringing down Jeff Shroud. Before the big event happens, however, there is a break in at the campaign office of Shroud and at the ACTIV headquarters. Intruders from either side seek to find information to use against their opponent, but once inside they both extract secrets that they weren’t expecting to uncover.

My role specifically has been to develop and plan this project it progresses. I have conceptualized the basic plotline for the story with my collaborative partner, and then we have individually written a detailed backstory each on both Jeff Shroud and ACTIV, respectively. These are useful devices for planning the overall structure of our transmedia work, as we can refer back to them for motives and characterization. We plan to both take control of our respective sides when our narrative goes live, posting the relevant content to each media in the persona of the characters we have created. We have also been regularly discussing our views of the project and any ideas that should arise. Our concept of immersive theatre has changed as we have discussed it, but it has always been realised as the main event of our campaign and thus should be given the most attention. We now plan to hold immersive theatre installations in two separate rooms, with the audience having to choose a side to align with and then delve into the various elements of the environment that will lead them to discover important facts about the story. At this stage, we are also planning to use live actors within the environment to aid the search and discovery of various artefacts. We also plan to use a survey system which is still being developed to find out about our audience’s experience with the narrative, and their opinions and explanations for what they believe happened.