I received this announcement by way of Helen Varley Jamieson, the Project Manager for UpStage. I think this will be interesting and great fun! I certainly plan to participate. Check it out:

A festival of live online performances to celebrate the launch of UpStage 2. 

You are warmly invited to create your own original cyberformance and perform it to a global audience, using UpStage.

Purpose-built for live interactive performance events, UpStage is easy and fun to use. It works via a web browser so you don’t need to download or install anything to create or attend a performance. The UpStage team can help you to learn how to use the software and give advice on devising work in UpStage and creating graphics.

To learn more about UpStage, come to the next open session: Wednesday 7 March, 9pm New Zealand time – check here for your local time.

To submit a proposal, email the following information to info@upstage.org.nz:

• working title of your cyberformance and 3-4 sentences about it;
•  names and locations of people involved;
• brief background /bios (not more than 300 words);
• preferred time(s), in your local time, for presentation on 070707;
• contact email and postal address.

Performances can be on any theme or topic – adapt a stage classic, tell your own story or go for the avant garde! The only rules are it must be no longer than 21 minutes, and must be created and performed in UpStage.

The deadline is MARCH 31 2007; selections will be made shortly after this and you will be advised as soon as possible. The festival will take place online in UpStage, and screened at the New Zealand Film Archive, Wellington, NZ, on 0707070 (7 July 2007). There us no entry fee; participated artists will be listed in a printed programme and on the UpStage website, and will receive a DVD of the festival and copies of promotional material.

For further information email: info@upstage.org.na