Playtime
Playtime was a three-month R&D project exploring how creativity can support parents of young children and make visible the lived realities of early parenthood. Led by Emma Zangs with a team of 14 collaborators, the project combined a 45-minute multidisciplinary performance, The Kids Are Fine, with two family play session models title Moving Words and Big Play. Across the project, 175 people engaged as participants, audiences, or collaborators.
The project was grounded in Emma’s experience of postnatal depression, asking whether playful, creative spaces could provide support during matrescence. Dance, clowning, live music, poetry, projection, and open play were combined to help parents reconnect with themselves, strengthen bonds with their children, and share authentic experiences of parenthood.
My Role – Projection Design and R&D
I was responsible for designing and developing the projections and digital content for The Kids Are Fine. While I was not involved in all aspects of choreography or public-facing workshops, I worked alongside Emma and the creative team during R&D sessions to develop projection elements in parallel with the choreography, ensuring integration and meaningful interaction.
Presence
Using footage of Emma’s two young sons captured in a green screen studio, I projected their playful movement and dancing into the performance to create a sense of co-presence, making the children active participants in the live work.
Playfulness
The projections were deliberately non-choreographed and triggered live during the performance to surprise Emma and encourage spontaneous interaction. This created a playful dialogue between Emma, the projected imagery, and the audience.
Inner Worlds
At points, projections intensified the emotional content of the piece, projecting directly onto Emma or into the space to convey overwhelm or heightened feeling, supporting the expressive, performative dimension of the work
Technical Process
Footage of Emma and her sons was captured during a day of play and exploration at a green screen studio. I keyed and manipulated the footage using Nuke to isolate the figures and create playful, flexible visual elements. Projections were mapped into the performance space using MadMapper, and each element was triggered live during the performance to remain responsive to the action on stage. This allowed the imagery to function dynamically, sometimes playful, sometimes emotionally evocative, always in dialogue with the live performance
Outcomes and Impact
The live, responsive projections were central to the performance’s impact, helping create a sense of connection, play, and co-performance. Audience feedback described the performance as “funny, relatable, cathartic, and validating,” while the R&D process highlighted how projection can act as a dynamic, playful participant, enriching the interaction between performer, digital content, and audience.
Find more about the project and Emma’s work at www.emmazangs.com/playtime-project
