MEGACORP – Freedom of Choice is an ironic theatre piece about our consumption habits, the environmental crisis and asks the question if multinationals are the one saving or condemning us. In the form of a TED talk, the actress playing an employee of the fictional multinational Megacorp holds a speech of an hour to present the new program of the company “Freedom of Choice”.

The scenography takes inspiration from business keynotes where one person is speaking in front of the company logo, but add more playful and entertaining features to it. The stage consists of a conference stand and a background light installation.

The background light installation showcases the logo of Megacorp (a strikethrough M) with two adjacent lines, surrounded by greenery, because compagnies usually loves plants, attached to two vertical trusses. Built with addressable LEDs, the installation can display custom patterns and animations and underline the narrative of the play.

Because the theater piece consists of a one-hour monologue, the light installation aims to liven up the play and create to visual variation without distracting the audience from the speech.

Every part of the stage design is self-built and programmed by myself. The stage lighting, the light installation and sounds cues are controlled in a TouchDesigner program with a Midi Controller. The controllers for the LED installation are ESP-32 microcontroller receiving over Wifi the Artnet signal.

The LED installation was built, wired and soldiered beforehand in the workshop, therefore the onsite build up and breakdown were executed rapidly.