Second Wave Digital Theatre: Innovations in Post-Pandemic Digital Theatre Dramaturgy

Author: L. Nicol Cabe

  • Thesis download: available for open access on 20 May 2026.

Cabe, L. Nicol, 2025 Second Wave Digital Theatre: Innovations in Post-Pandemic Digital Theatre Dramaturgy, Flinders University, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

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Abstract

This research project, ‘Second Wave Digital Theatre: Digital Dramaturgy Practice in Post-

Pandemic Digital Theatre’, began with an abiding curiosity about the benefits and consequences of

theatre makers’ sudden global pivot online in March 2020. Thousands of stage productions were

cancelled or indefinitely postponed, and the artists and companies behind those productions often turned

to internet platforms as a new stage space. This required curiosity about online options, upskilling to use

digital tools, and new approaches to engaging audiences. Although digital experiments in theatre have

occurred for decades, the Covid pandemic triggered a radical shift in how theatre makers negotiated their

relationship to digital media. At the beginning of this thesis in 2022, it seemed like this seismic shift would

continue rippling through the theatre community, but the results of this shift were still being implemented.

Through interviews, field and archival research, and dramaturgical analysis of case studies, this thesis

demonstrates how artists continue to explore the digital transition post-pandemic. The pandemic led to a

break between types of digital theatre, termed first wave digital theatre and second wave digital theatre;

with terminology in place, a more nuanced analysis of the major changes between time periods could be

explored.

Although many theatre makers and producing organisations have returned to in-person

production, several creatives continue working with online streaming performances, onstage digital tools,

and even online-only digital productions as part of their repertoire. ‘Second Wave Digital Theare: A

Guidebook’, hosted on the digital documentation GitBook platform, explores these changes based on

qualitative data gathered via interviews, field work, and archival research from theatre makers’ personal

experiences and literature on digital dramaturgy praxis. Integrated analysis of both first wave and second

wave digital theatre dramaturgies bridges the gap between theatre artists’ digital experiments. The Covid

pandemic changed how theatre makers and their audiences understand the production and experience of

theatre as a medium and artform.

Further, theatre makers engaged with digital tools in unique ways which have been grouped into

a taxonomy as the major output of the digital dramaturgy guidebook. The artifact also introduces practical

and dramaturgical cross-taxonomic issues in ‘Spotlights’. The goal of an artifact-exegesis thesis project

stemmed from the ideal of helping curious theatre makers learn with practical and dramaturgical

applications of a range of digital tools and determine how second wave digital theatre dramaturgies could

best serve their production. The platform GitBook was chosen because it supports public-facing, free

access documentation, any theatre maker can access the information in the artifact, titled ‘Second Wave

Digital Theatre: A Guidebook’, for free. The artifact forms a foundation from which theatre makers can

learn from other theatre makers. Additional analysis of the research suggests that curious theatre makers,

whether they enjoyed pandemic-era online performance or reject it, are incorporating more digital media

and tools into their work. The evolution of this digital theatre dramaturgy may lead to new performance

forms. Future research may include practice-based production to test my taxonomy and Spotlight

dramaturgies, along with regular review of digital theatre makers’ learnings and performances.

Keywords: digital theatre, post-pandemic theatre, online theatre, digital performance, digital dramaturgy

Subject: Creative Arts thesis

Thesis type: Doctor of Philosophy
Completed: 2025
School: College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Supervisor: Dr. Sarah Peters