“It/I” is a two-character theater play in which the human character I (played by a real actor) is taunted and played with by an autonomous computer character It on a computer-controlled, camera-monitored stage. The play, performed before live audiences in November 1997, brought an automatic computer character to a theatrical stage for the first time ever. This paper reports the experience and examines important technical developments needed for the successful production of “It/I”. In particular we describe the interval script paradigm used to program the computer character and the ACTSCRIPT language for communication of actions and goals. Although our experiments have been restricted to physical interactive spaces, we believe that interval scripts and ACTSCRIPT can successfully address the control and management of any virtual environment with a complex temporal structure or a strong underlying narrative.

The KidsRoom is a perceptually-based, interactive, narrative playspace for children. Images, music, narration, light, and sound effects are used to transform a normal child's bedroom into a fantasy land where children are guided through a reactive adventure story. The fully automated system was designed with the following goals: (1) to keep the focus of user action and interaction in the physical and not virtual space; (2) to permit multiple, collaborating people to simultaneously engage in an interactive experience combining both real and virtual objects; (3) to use computer-vision algorithms to identify activity in the space without requiring the participants to wear any special clothing or devices; (4) to use narrative to constrain the perceptual recognition, and to use perceptual recognition to allow participants to drive the narrative; and (5) to create a truly immersive and interactive room environment. We believe the KidsRoom is the first multi-person, fully-automated, interactive, narrative environment ever constructed using non-encumbering sensors. This paper describes the KidsRoom, the technology that makes it work, and the issues that were raised during the system's development. 1