Alon Grinshpoon Archives - Chris Pfaff Tech Media

Immersive Theatre: Volumetric Capture Smashes the Four Walls – 4Dviews, Tin Drum, and HTC Vive at the School of Visual Arts – January 22, 2026

By Chris Pfaff • Posted January 29, 2026 & filed under Uncategorized

The immersive arts and entertainment cognoscenti showed up at the School of Visual Arts Graduate Theatre in NYC on Thursday, January 22nd for ‘Immersive Theatre: Volumetric Capture Smashes the Four Walls.’ Some of the leading players in the field, including Richard Broadbridge from 4Dviews, Todd Eckert from Tin Drum, Inc., and Leigh Tanner from HTC VIVE Arts, and Chris Pfaff SXSW from Chris Pfaff Tech Media LLC gave detailed presentations on experiential theatrical and musical works that leverage how volumetric video enables human-like presence, emotional depth, and audience connection in ways that traditional stages simply cannot.

Todd Eckert, who produced ‘An Ark,’ which had premiered the previous evening at The Shed (NY), showed how the four actors, including Sir Ian McKellen, took to the volumetric recording process. Richard Broadbridge discussed his work with Eckert on ‘An Ark’ and their previous collaborations, including ‘KAGAMI’ with Ryuichi Sakamoto. Leigh Tanner discussed ‘Playing with Fire,’ the spectacular musical experience with pianist Yuja Wang, currently playing at Philharmonie in Paris.

We had a who’s who of the New York VFX/virtual production/immersive theatre crowd, from Brandon Powers to James George (who received a bravura shout-out from Todd Eckert) to Alon Grinshpoon. Many thanks to Terrence Masson and Trilby Schreiber from SVA, who made it possible.

This was a real watershed event for volumetric video in the immersive theatre space.

You can watch the entire session at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjiWe89ZvZw