Theatre x Games = Play
I am excited by the theatre x games intersection. I want to bring story off the stage, into the world; to use technology, actors and environment to create pervasive, immersive adventures. I grew up on late 80s / early 90s technology: Compaq III, text-based adventures, Return to Zork and Monkey Island. You can see inspiration from these in what I create. In 2020, I was mentored by Tassos Stevens of Coney – a UK-based charity creating lovely adventures. That inspired me to start my BA (theatre) and practice creating my own, playful pieces.
Skills used: Coding, graphic design and editing, game design, filming, video editing, story scripting, set-up of cloud-based IVR, audio editing.
Four Drinks (Jess Rainbow, 2026)
January, 2026: A site-specific adventure, played on a phone browser. Inveresk university campus, Launceston. Students scanned a QR-code to meet “Bianca, the university’s new AI assistant”, who took them on an orientation tour. But was the AI assistant all she promised to be? And how did the game relate to Firmus Technologies AI-data centre being built 10km away from the campus? Videos show examples of gameplay. Footage filmed on phone, edited in clipchamp.
Bianca promotional video, created by Jess Rainbow, 2026.
An “AI-generated” tour of the workshop building. Example of gameplay, created by Jess Rainbow, 2026.
An “AI-generated” tour of the Inveresk campus community gardens. Example of gameplay, created by Jess Rainbow, 2026.
Super Cool Awesome Robot 2000
(Jess Rainbow, 2025)
May, 2025: A piece created for the university theatre unit, “Global Media and Cybertheatres”. The piece began with a one-person performance, where I played a 10-year old version of myself using HTML to build a “robot”. I asked questions about the philosophical nature of existence and personhood during this. After the performance, audience could visit the “robot” I’d built on a website. You can play with part of the game here by typing into the black and green box.
Piece of interactive website, built for Super Cool Awesome Robot 2000! performance.
Posters used in performance, to promote website to audience. Clipart from 1990s Microsoft Word.
The Phone (Jess Rainbow, 2022)
October, 2022: Created for the Glenorchy Open art exhibit, open to all residents of the area. “The Phone” was a rotary phone and an antennae, painted and linked to an early-2000s laptop. Calling the number connected you to a cloud-based IVR with a computerised voice offering to connect you to the future if you pressed 3, or send you through the wormhole if you pressed 7. To leave a message, press 9!
Photos and video of “The Phone” art piece (Jess Rainbow, 2022).