Gamers Junction

At Fabula(b), cutting-edge technology brings classic literature to life, transporting gamers into the worlds portrayed in works by Shakespeare and Aeschylus.

Founded by E. B. Hunter, a Ph.D. candidate in theater and drama, Fabula(b) uses interactive media platforms to create new engagements, in terms of both audience and methods, with texts including “Macbeth” and “Agamemnon.” 

Hunter, one of nine women selected for Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality initiative, developed an application for Microsoft’s HoloLens – a mixed reality headset that overlays digital holograms onto the user’s real world.

Drawing on campus resources like The Garage and a grant from the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in the Arts, she hired a team of programmers and designers to help her adapt the Greek tragedy “Agamemnon” for the HoloLens. In Hunter’s mixed reality game, “Bitter Wind,” players use 3D-printed puzzle pieces to unlock a series of holograms that explain the ancient story.

Hunter credits the interdisciplinary learning environment afforded by academia for her mission to reimagine classical text in a way that blends entertainment and education.

“Innovation in academia is not about sales,” she said. “It’s about pushing the boundaries of art and technology.” 

In addition to developing games and teaching tools that integrate theater and technology, Hunter will bring these worlds together in 2018 with a joint conference for engineers and professionals from the Chicago theater community.