Linden Lab have blogged about a mixed reality performance due to take place in San Francisco on Wednesday August 20th.

The event will take place at the Little Boxes Theatre in San Francisco and will feature DanCoyote Antonelli (DC Spensley in the physical world) and the ZeroG SkyDancers in a show which is described by DanCoyote Antonelli as follows:

Avant Garden is a mixed reality theater performance by Artistic Director and Virtual Worlds Producer DC Spensley. Mixed reality in this sense means a combination of live and virtual reality dance performers interacting by means of a rear projection screen. The virtual team is called the ZERO SkyDancers, an ensemble that has been performing professionally since 2006 at art biennials, festivals and commissions, log in from all over North America using their computers to rehearse and perform together in simulated space. Imagine people controlling puppets over the internet all together on a stage similar to a video game environment. The live dancer (physically present) Kathleen Moore (of Dance Generators) performs in front of the screen allowing her to interact with the virtual performers and stage set.

Avant Garden is a combination of avant-garde and walled garden, and refers to the challenge presented in offering virtual reality theater to a physical audience. Avant Garden is an experiment in doing exactly that: sharing virtual theater with a live audience.

The performance is only taking place at the Little Boxes Theatre, but admission is free (subject, of course, to seating) the evening’s schedule reads as (all times PDT):

17:30 Drinks and small eats

18:00 Curator and artist talk

18:30 Performance seating.

So if you are in San Francisco and fancy an evening out, what not pop along? For those unable to attend, and while this is a live event at the theatre, the Lab’s blog post hints there might be performances specifically for in-world audiences in the future.