Artistic Elements and Practical Challenges in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Unmanned Vehicles

This paper examines some of the artistic elements and practical problems encountered Texas A&M’s 2009 production of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which teleoperated unmanned vehicles were involved. From the beginning, a major concern was whether robots would distract from the play, undermine the characters, and harm the world which the playwright had envisioned. The play itself had been selected before any role for robots was considered. Several directorial, costume and staging decisions were made in order to ensure that the robots would be an integral part of the production. In the end, the production was a success, and it was widely felt that our concerns had been staved off. We describe our experiences, highlight and reflect on these integrative decisions, suggesting that they may be a useful starting point for generalization to other theatrical works.