Accessibility was a critical component in the work of Renate Pohl for a project produced by Eastern Front Theatre.

At the height of the pandemic, Eastern Front Theatre asked 20 theatre and theatre-adjacent artists from Atlantic Canada to "translate the essence of live theatre into a micro digital experience."

Prof. Pohl, resident designer and associate professor of technical theatre production in Grenfell's theatre program, designed a digital set model hologram.

See the rest of the Micro Digital projects here.

"When people can't come to the theatre, reflected light can be manipulated to bring the theatre to them," she explained. "This video of a digital scale set model displayed as a Pepper's Ghost hologram is combined with construction instructions for a simple viewing device, allowing isolated audience members to hold a rotating and floating theatre in the palm of their hands at home."

One of the important points of this project was accessibility: Artists were asked to incorporate accessibility from the earliest design stages of the project.

"Through a 60-second video, I attempted to make set design accessible to people at home during the pandemic by allowing them to view their own hologram using materials easily found in a house and with the use of a smartphone," said Prof. Pohl.

She also created a downloadable instruction sheet of how to make a hologram viewer and recorded an audio copy of the instructions to aid in accessibility.

"The illusion of a miniature light object in one's hand can bring a moment of enchantment and levity into the darkness of the pandemic," she said.

Renate Pohl can be reached at rpohl@grenfell.mun.ca.