Keywords

interactive costume design, wearable musical interface, theme park attraction, guest engagement, multisensory narrative design, experiential storytelling

Abstract

Costumes enhance the themed experience through visual storytelling while also allowing performers to interact fluidly with a physical space. These garments are typically passive storytellers in theme parks, even if the performers interact directly with guests. Some garments coordinate with and react to elements of the themed environment, predominantly when worn by performers within live shows, parades, or streetmosphere settings. However, this interactivity is often available only at a distance from guests, causing a separation between audience and performer. For instance, lights on parade costumes, such as those throughout Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park, often synchronize only with parade floats and not with the actions of performers or with ongoing music. Certain meet-and-greet characters, such as the Stormtroopers in the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge area of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, use audio capabilities in their costumes to interact with guests. These performers shape the narrative for the guests, but guests do not always influence the performance. Therefore, this thesis emphasizes creating performances that offer opportunities for guests to participate as active storytellers alongside the performers.  While most costumes are worn for visual appeal, musicians can challenge the functionality of clothing by utilizing wearable technology such as an instrument or a controller. Implementing costumes that musically respond to performer actions can produce a new mode of interactivity within theme parks. By combining musical storytelling and traditional visual storytelling, technologically enhanced costumes can produce a new method of performer-guest-environment interactivity within themed entertainment. Specifically, this thesis proposes a sonically activated costume that enables meaningful interactions between the performer, guest, and environment through a theatrical attraction that reinterprets how sound can drive narrative in theme parks.

Completion Date

2026

Semester

Spring

Committee Chair

William Ayers

Degree

Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)

College

College of Arts and Humanities

Department

Theatre

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Identifier

DP0053145

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