Project Manager in Modern Theater VR Practices

The purpose of the research is to identify, analyse and systematise the existing experience of project activities in organising VR immersive performances and to highlight and justify the main stages of their implementation, which will allow to deepen the understanding of the management system of theatrical institutions and the organisation of modern entertainment forms. The article raises the issue of the impact of constant technological change on key aspects of theatre management. The research methodology is based on an integrated approach and is based on a combination of several methods: analytical – when considering the historical, cultural and art history literature on the subject of the study; theoretical and conceptual – when analysing the conceptual and terminological system of the study and identifying the peculiarities of the organisation of VR practices. The scientific novelty is to determine the important role of project activities in the professional training of managers of socio-cultural activities, taking into account the peculiarities of the technological transformation of the entertainment industry. Conclusions. The rapid introduction of innovative achievements in the field of immersive VR technologies into theatre has led to the production of new spectacular and experimental forms. Given this, it has been found that the main task of project management in contemporary theatrical VR practices is to analyse the production of theatrical performances, maintain communication with the audience (determining the level of immersion), address issues of financing theatrical activities, relations with stakeholders, and personnel policy. The examples of VR performances revealed the benefits of project management in contemporary VR theatre practices: immersive technologies as a powerful adaptive tool made it possible to adapt the artistic experience to the needs of people with different abilities, to overcome obstacles in the process of creative expression, and to ensure that a large audience is involved during the performance. Instead, the main negative result of this study may be the discovery of the fact that the role of the artist and manager in the process of digitalisation can be reduced to zero. With this in mind, the role of the theatre manager is to minimise the negative impact of immersive technologies on the organisation of collective work in a theatre institution.