Expand theatres with hybrid experiences
The performing arts have a unique chance to thrive in digital spaces. Hybrid experiences open fresh ways to create and share performances, and to connect with your audiences. This step by step toolkit guides theatre professionals through the process of making meaningful hybrid work.
Choose your starting point
Introduction
Artistic leads and producers are often in command of the project. You might be working within the organisation or leading on a commission, tasked to make an artistically exceptional hybrid project that delivers on all kinds of future facing possibilities, on budget while working within real-world constraints.
This toolkit is created to help you along each stage of a typical project timeline. Every project is unique and will deviate in some special way too, but the framework in this toolkit will give you something to hold onto when planning and something to return to when things are hard. Which they inevitably will be when making artistic ambitious and innovative work.
This is a toolkit made by and for people who create theatrical work with technology. The creation involved producers, production managers, theatre directors and dramaturgs, digital experts, developers and executive directors to really capture what is most important and what really works.
This pathway gives the most detail across all the stages. It will help you advocate for your ideas and mix methodologies from live and digital, integrate live and digital processes from the start, help you think about coordinating teams effectively, plan timelines and ensure your production will be accessible and impactful - and most importantly be driven by artistic quality.
This toolkit is designed as a flexible resource—no need to read cover-to-cover. Dip in, dip out. Access tools, resources, insights, and inspiration exactly when you need them, wherever you are in your hybrid journey.
Toolkits benefits
- Will help you to deliver an artistically ambitious experience, on-time and on-budget
- Will help you explain and advocate for your work with partners and funders
- Identify the key people and expertise needed in each phase
- A tool for clear production planning
- A tool for strong, effective collaboration and decision-making
- Better risk management
- Designed to be flexible, it is easy to print, annotate and make your own.
Key Considerations
Every hybrid theatre project is unique—but the same core principles apply. These five considerations will help your team align, collaborate effectively, and deliver something that has impact, and lasts.
- Collaboration is Key.
Hybrid success relies on seamless communication and collaboration across artistic, technical, and operational teams. - Clarity of Purpose.
Define your shared “North Star” clearly to align your teams’ efforts and maintain focus. - Audiences at the Centre.
Hybrid theatre should be accessible, engaging, and meaningful to your intended audience. - Sustainability Matters.
Consider long-term sustainability—financially and technologically, beyond a single project. - Unique Digital Production Logic.
Recognise digital workflows differ significantly from traditional theatre processes, requiring adapted approaches.
Hybrid Production Roadmap
Every hybrid theatre project is unique, but most successful projects follow these five key phases. We’ve highlighted the phases most relevant for your role. This toolkit is designed as a flexible resource, feel free to dip in and out, exploringthe sections that are most relevant to your current needs.
Explore hybrid theatre offline? Download the pdf.
- Ideal for sharing and advocacy.
- Easy to print and annotate.
- Read anytime, anywhere, even offline
- Designed for flexibility and inspiration
Go In-Depth
If you’re ready to take the first steps in this hybrid journey, you can now dive into Phase 1. Ideation.
This first phase sets the creative foundation and strategic direction for your project—helping you define your vision, assemble the right collaborators, and outline what success looks like.
Introduction
Hybrid experiences help you deliver bold, future-facing productions that allow for artistic ambition to align with expanding audiences, accessibility and new partnerships and funding streams. However it also requires new approaches and processes that allow to work within budget and real-world constraints without compromising artistic rigour and excellence.
Every project is unique and will deviate in some special way but this toolkit allows you to work through each stage of a typical project timeline. It can help you when deciding if and how you would approach a hybrid project within your organisation, it allows you to plan and budget for projects and it will give you a model to manage and support creative teams through the process.
This is a toolkit made by and for people who create theatrical work with technology. The creation involved producers, production managers, theatre directors and dramaturgs, digital experts, developers and executive directors to really capture what is most important and what really works.
This toolkit is designed as a flexible resource—no need to read cover-to-cover. Dip in, dip out. Access tools, resources, insights, and inspiration exactly when you need them, wherever you are in your hybrid journey.
Toolkits benefits
- Can help you and your team decide if and how hybrid might work in your organisation
- Will help you to plan, budget for and commission hybrid projects
- Will help you to support creative teams to deliver an artistically ambitious experience, on-time and on-budget
- Identify the key people and expertise needed in each phase
- A tool to help design clear risk management processes during innovation
- Designed to be flexible, it is easy to print, annotate and make your own.
Hybrid Production Roadmap
Every hybrid theatre project is unique, but most successful projects follow these five key phases. We’ve highlighted the phases most relevant for your role. This toolkit is designed as a flexible resource, feel free to dip in and out, exploringthe sections that are most relevant to your current needs.
Relevant for you
Less relevant
Key Considerations
Every hybrid theatre project is unique—but the same core principles apply. These five considerations will help your team align, collaborate, and build something that lasts.
- Collaboration is Key.
Hybrid success relies on seamless communication and collaboration across artistic, technical, and operational teams. - Clarity of Purpose.
Define your shared “North Star” clearly to align your teams’ efforts and maintain focus. - Audiences at the Centre.
Hybrid theatre should be accessible, engaging, and meaningful to your intended audience. - Sustainability Matters.
Consider long-term sustainability—financially and technologically, beyond a single project. - Unique Digital Production Logic.
Recognise digital workflows differ significantly from traditional theatre processes, requiring adapted approaches.
Explore hybrid theatre offline? Download the pdf.
- Ideal for sharing and advocacy.
- Easy to print and annotate.
- Read anytime, anywhere, even offline
- Designed for flexibility and inspiration
Go In-Depth
If you’re ready to take the first steps in this hybrid journey, you can now dive into Phase 1. Ideation.
This first phase sets the creative foundation and strategic direction for your project—helping you define your vision, assemble the right collaborators, and outline what success looks like.
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