Our mission is to create new audiences for theatres
We want to make theatre more popular. It's a three-thousand-year-young art form that's not going anywhere even when we all will live as avatars in a metaverse
So, our idea is not to replace theatre, but create a "second theatre" that is virtual. It will bring theatre those who missed ticket sales and those who can't go because of their hectic life, health, age, distance or climate reasons.
The most exciting thing is that subtitles will make plays accessible for those who can't understand the language. For example, Berlin is famous for its theatres, but for most of us theatre fans, it's too far and too Deutsch. With Second Theatre, you can become a fan in a second.
Theatre is a very popular artform and a pastime activity
At the moment, when we are still building the service and relying on investors, we need to correct the false perception that there is no money in culture.
Culture is like food; we can't live without it, and we are happy to pay for it when it's good. So delighted, that in New York, people spend more money on theatre tickets than on all New York's Major League tickets combined. Yes, that's basketball, football, baseball, and ice hockey together.
People also spend on museum tickets, concerts, Spotify, Netflix, HBO, and whatnot. Second Theatre joins VR platforms and creates a platform for theatres to sell more tickets, because VR finally makes it possible.
Three-dimensional VR technology can replicate theatre experience better than any previous way of recording. How do we know that? Because we have built a custom camera rig and recorded plays in several countries with our partner Donkey Hotel, developed an app, and tried it on headsets. Second Theatre will be the closest thing to being in a real theatre.
How did it all start?
Our founder, Erkki Izarra got the idea in 2015 when he was leaving Microsoft, where he was working in a global Director position. He had the chance to try an early VR headset, and the first thing that came to his mind on that virtual mountain top was, "Hey, this could be the way to re-live theatre." Three years later, he gathered a team of VR pros from Donkey Hotel, they made a test recording in KOM Theatre, and it was mindblowing. Erkki still gets goosebumps every time he tells how they fired up the first demo with Varjo's goggle in their office.
Why did Erkki get the idea? Because his mother Anneli and sister Elina are both Theatre Directors. Today Elina still writes and directs plays – and curates plays for Second Theatre. Elina and Erkki think it's a shame that none of their mother's plays were recorded while she was still making theatre.
This brings us to the second part of our mission. Second Theatre not only creates new audiences for theatres but also records it for future generations.
Vision, mission, proposition, and strategy
Vision: A global VR theatre
Mission: We create new audiences for theatre and record theatre for future generations
Proposition: The highest quality digital theatre experience
Strategy: To record plays of the best theatres in the highest possible quality and distribute them to the most popular, yet high-quality VR glasses through the Second Theatre app
