Stan Lai’s six hour long epic theatre play “Ago” proved hugely popular after its original premiere in Shanghai at the end of 2019.

“Ago” follows different characters on a journey of discovery, that spans three decades and revolves around key notions of migration and salvation in a world full of conflict.

The play’s story unfolds in three different main locations, a small mountain village in China, the metropolis of New York and the North-Indian part of the Himalayas.

In 2021, the Performance Workshop and Theatre Above began to present the inspiring production to additional audiences in Wuzhen, Hangzhou, Xi’an and Shanghai.

Projection mapping played a key role in the seamless visual storytelling of acclaimed writer/director Stan Lai’s epic play. It fell to Ethan Wang, who was both responsible for the general content design and projection technology, to create a workable setup that would act in harmony with Sandra Woodall’s set and costume design, without overpowering it.

One of “Ago’s” key stage design elements consists of eleven panels that act as flexible projection surfaces.

PIXERA gave the production team the much needed flexibility and reliability to adjust the setup to differently sized venues, as PIXERA specialist Bin Ye explains: ”In Hangzhou and Xi’an, the quantity and location of the panels were different from the original design due to the varying sizes of the theaters, but PIXERA allowed us to simply remap some part of the contents. We did not have to re-render everything and could adapt to the different venues quickly, leaving more time for the artistic process itself.”

Pictures courtesy of © Theatre Above