"Heavenly Bento," a high-tech interactive performance set on New York's east side, recounts the history of two founders of electronics giant Sony, who arguably sparked much of the development of today's everyday technology.
The two men began as humble dreamers who tried to bring the world pocket-sized radios.
Director Max Schumacher said the production is not a one-hour Sony commercial, and that Sony had no input and no knowledge the show was even being put together.
"This show is about two visionaries, two people who have ideas, a dream," Schumacher said. "And in order to go for their dream, they have to cross cultural boundaries, and this is something that at the time in the '50s and '60s was very special, especially for Japanese people."
The show itself crossed theatrical boundaries, allowing colorful, almost psychedelic projections to share the stage with the two main actors.
"The video is regarded as an additional performer, so the video is not just a backdrop or decoration or ornament. The video is having an actual part," Schumacher said. "We have a vertical video projection and the actors are interacting with it in many different ways."
 |  |
 | |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
High-tech
 Adam Balkin shares how one performance is paving the way for a new type of act.



|  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |  |
|
For those actors, that means precisely hitting more lines and actions than in a more traditional performance.
"You have to coordinate with all the projections and images and animations, so you can't just act however you want," actor Jun Kim said. "You have to know the timing of the action and the music, so many things happening at the same time."
As part of this interactive show's finale, some audience members are actually encouraged to eat pudding that has lights projected onto it.
"In a way, this is the most extreme opposite you can have, the one between electronic, ephemeral, invisible, or maybe visible but non- haptic video projection and something so physical like food," Schumacher said. "So for us, a lot of this is about bringing this together. And to eat a video projection, to bring the technology inside of you, is maybe the next step."
The three-show run of "Heavenly Bento" in New York is already up. Creators said they would love to take the show on tour throughout the country. The main roadblock would be to configure the stage in theaters properly, so that the show could be viewed properly by more than just those sitting immediately around the stage.