Following the launch of the theater sector on February 14, 2025—which explored the role of theater within the cultural and creative industries—this acceleration day now examines the complex relationship between theater, its audiences, and digital technology. Theater has always been eager to embrace technological innovations, and over the past thirty years we have seen the emergence of theatrical forms that utilize digital technology: robotic theater, theater in the metaverse, virtual reality and augmented reality theater, automated theater, online theater, and more. However, these forms are developing on the fringes of the theater world, which generally keeps its distance from digital spaces and sometimes even presents itself as a space of resistance to digital technology.

Throughout this event, we invite the community of researchers and industry professionals to reflect together on the role that digital technology plays—or could play—in making theater popular again. By opening up new virtual, augmented, or distributed performance spaces, can digital spaces be viewed as a laboratory for a different kind of popular theater? How do these new stages transform the relationship between theater and its audiences, both in terms of accessibility and audience engagement with the performance?

The aim will be to examine, on the one hand, the accessibility options offered by digital technology: how can digital spaces attract new audiences to the theater? What role can theater play in these digital spaces before, during, and after a performance (interviews, rehearsals, recordings, archives, reviews, etc.)? We will also examine the forms of audience engagement fostered by digital technologies, the capacity of digital media to renew the audience’s curiosity—the driving force behind their engagement—and, consequently, its transformative potential for society.

To address these questions, we have chosen to join forces with the theater sector and the targeted THEMIS project—“Toucher les publics” (Reaching Audiences)—led by the Scène de Recherche at the École normale supérieure Paris Saclay. This hackathon will be held in conjunction with a performance of *Que la machine vive en moi*, a play by and featuring digital installations by Romane Nicolas. Scheduled as part of the Scène de Recherche’s season, the play is also part of the 2025–2026 edition of the Némo Digital Arts Biennial, organized by the CENTQUATRE-PARIS and centered on the theme “Illusions Rediscovered – New Utopias of the Digital Age.”