Dramaturgy Across Borders: Multimedia/Transnational Medea(s) of La MaMa ETC

In Medea (2024), La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club reimagines Medea as an asylum seeker held in a U.S. detention center. In this immersive production of Medea, La MaMa offers the audience two viewing options for the same production: an in-person experience and an online live stream on their custom-built website. This article focuses on two distinctive yet interconnected dramaturgical strategies used in Medea: the dramaturgy of senses in the in-person performance and the dramaturgy of virtual interactivity in the online performance. I argue that through its hybrid dramaturgy, La MaMa demonstrates that the in-person and online performances of the same production can independently exist—each based on its distinct concept of co-presence—while sometimes enriching one another. Furthermore, I apply Cathy Turner’s concept of porous dramaturgy to analyze how La MaMa’s immersive production creates moments of co-creativity based on my first-hand experience participating in both performances. I suggest that this transformative porosity of Medea invites collaborative participation from the audience, both in-person and online, cherishing hope that such gestures of solidarity may continue as collaborative action to archive and support Medea(s) within and beyond theatre. From this perspective, this article discusses how Medea offers a promising vision of post-pandemic hybrid theatre, which invites the audience to take action beyond technological borders and immerse themselves into a multimedia network that connects presence in theatre and over the screen.