Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 2017 - Public - 25

PIWALL FAILURES
Other challenges did not result in solutions, elegant
or otherwise. The most common problem was caused
by attempting to run two cues simultaneously. This is
something that happens frequently in theatre, normally
without issues. PiWall can only handle one video file at
a time. And while the team was careful to create video
files that were just as long as they needed to be, they
froze on the last frame and the video files themselves
could be very short (except for still images).
The bigger problems happened with preshow, intermission, and the waterfall cue in the last scene-the
three times in a performance where a longer video was
used. If cue one was still playing when cue two was executed, the result was green static and noise on all of the
displays. Because most cues were seconds long, this was
usually fixed simply by waiting for all cues to finish running. With the longer ones, all cues had to be cleared
with the needed ones reloaded. Careful operator training and conscious design of the length of all cues was
the best way to avoid this problem.
Some displays were more problematic than others,
though there wasn't an identifiable pattern. Usually, rebooting the Pis and cycling the power fixed any issues.
One display would occasionally just show a traveling
white bar moving from one side to the other. When this
happened outside of a performance, the solution was to
cycle the Pi's power and reboot, but without being able
to physically go up to the wall itself, an operator would
not be able to do this during a performance. In a future
iteration of the PiWall, it will be important to consider
how an operator could easily cycle the power to all displays quickly and simultaneously, perhaps from the light
booth during a performance.
The biggest unresolvable issue concerned image
resolution of the waterfall at the end. The video file was
high quality, and the different display resolutions should
not affect the PiWall, according to its own creators, but
a couple of displays were very pixelated. The creators believed that it was due to the quality of the video, but the
team didn't agree, thinking it was likely a problem with
the network, or an issue with the resolution of this video
file being too high for some of the displays. The team
was unable to resolve the issue during the run of the
show and would need to devote extra time to troubleshooting this issue in the future.
PIWALL SUCCESSES
Focusing on the overall successes of this project, however, show that they outweigh the challenges. The main
success-and the reason for pursuing this approach-
was the cost effectiveness of the solution. (See expenses
chart on page 22.)
Using a PiWall for this media design was an effective way to achieve the results wanted by the designers

and director for significantly less money than a turnkey
video wall setup. This project also demonstrated how
smaller budgets can often lead to outside-of-the-box
solutions and collaborations. The use of open-source
solutions frequently means that communities of users
are willing to help you achieve your goal, and that was
certainly the case here. The creators of the PiWall were
also keenly interested in the project. At the time of the
production, it was by far the largest PiWall that they
knew of (most used fewer than 10 displays). Because
the team figured out how to use Qlab to run the cues,
Qlab's creators were also made aware of and interested
in this design. While inexpensive computers served as
a way to solve a problem in the script, others are using them as sources of inspiration to make new art [see
sidebar]. Landazuri ended up keeping a Pi for his own
personal experimentation after Water by the Spoonful
was open. Being able to play with these computers, and
brainstorm what was possible, was inspirational.
Megan Reilly creates original lighting,
media, and scenic designs for performance.
Her professional work includes media designs
in Minneapolis for Mixed Blood Theatre,
Walking Shadow Theatre, New Century
Theatre, and Open Eye Figure Theatre, and lighting
designs for Live Action Set and Red Eye Theatre. In Texas,
she has designed for Austin companies such as Salvage
Vanguard Theatre, Rude Mechanicals, Trouble Puppet,
Whirligig Productions, and Hidden Room, and several
productions with Playhouse San Antonio. She is an
assistant professor of performance design and digital media
at Macalester College. At Macalester, Megan Reilly has
begun a scenographic practice of designing multiple
elements of one production. She also investigates "experience
design," the process of creating entire worlds and realities
that call for the active engagement of audience/participants
in performances involving new media, immersive theatre,
and alternate reality games. Upcoming projects include
Transmission, an augmented reality/immersive theatre
piece in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Mary Poppins
with Prescott Park Arts Festival in New Hampshire, and
If My Feet Have Lost the Ground at the Puppeteers of
America Festival in Saint Paul, MN.

WORKS CITED

Kong, James. 2016. "Firefly: A wearable LED device with show controllable system."
Hackaday.io. October 17. https://hackaday.io/project/16377-firefly
Upton, Liz. 2013. "Tudor Theatre, 21st Century Technology." Raspberry Pi Blog,
August 29. https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/tudor-theatre-21st-centurytechnology/
PiWall can be found at: http://www.piwall.co.uk/

S p r i n g 2 0 1 7

theatre design

& technology

https://www.hackaday.io/project/16377-firefly https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/tudor-theatre-21st-century-technology/ https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/tudor-theatre-21st-century-technology/ http://www.piwall.co.uk/

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