Rehearsing disruption: A cross-disciplinary reflection on augmented actor training and Playful Somaesthetic Technology Practices

This article reflects on the intersections between acting practices, rehearsing and Playful Somaesthetic Technology Practices (PSTP) through a two-week master of arts–level course on technologically augmented acting. The course brought together demonstrations of existing experiments in augmented acting, somatic exploration and embodiment exercises, as well as speculative design practices.The course was designed around the idea of cross-pollination between existing rehearsal practices, future speculations and the theoretical design concept of PSTP which aims at techno-logically configured transformative experiences. We treat the course as a site of mutual knowledge production, combining the practical framework of rehearsing with the theoretical framework of PSTP. Through cross-disciplinary comparison, we show how both acting and PSTP begin with the disruption of habitual bodily experience and move towards augmentation through repeated practice. Building on the course outcomes and our respective reflections, we propose three trends relevant to future practices of augmented acting and rehearsals.