From Connected Minds Seed Grant to SSHRC Insight: The Story of Meta-Physical Theatre

Two years ago, Connected Minds invested in an idea. Today, that idea has become a SSHRC-funded research program.

When Meta-Physical Theatre received one of Connected Minds' inaugural Seed Grants in 2024, it brought together engineering, robotics, virtual reality, theatre, and community arts in a way few research projects do. Led by Dr. Matthew Pan and Dr. Michael Wheeler, the team explored how physical touch could become part of immersive virtual reality experiences. Over the next two years, they developed prototypes, deepened collaborations with community partners, and generated the preliminary findings that ultimately supported a successful SSHRC Insight Grant application.

While today's VR experiences can recreate what we see and hear, the research team behind Meta-Physical Theatre is exploring how they might also recreate what we feel. By combining robotics and haptic technologies with live performance, the project is developing new ways for physical interactions, from a handshake to handing someone an object, to become part of a virtual experience.

*Connected Minds-supported PhD researcher **Eric Godden** and undergraduate researcher **Elizabeth Cox** at Ingenuity Labs.*

The project brings together expertise that rarely exists within a single research initiative. Engineers work alongside theatre practitioners, roboticists collaborate with artists, and community organizations help shape both the technology and the experience itself. SpiderWebShow Performance, a partnering live performance company on the project, has played an important role in ensuring the work is not only technically innovative, but also grounded in artistic practice, inclusion, and culturally responsive storytelling.

Few funding opportunities are designed for projects like this, where engineers, artists, and community partners are building something together from the ground up. The Connected Minds Seed Grant gave the team the flexibility to test an unconventional research approach, strengthen interdisciplinary partnerships, and refine the project as it evolved.

The SSHRC Insight Grant marks an important milestone in that journey. It recognizes the years of collaborative work that transformed an ambitious interdisciplinary idea into a nationally funded research program far beyond theatre. While the project began by reimagining immersive performance, its work is already informing conversations around healthcare, education, skilled trades training, and other environments where meaningful human interaction can be enhanced through technology.

For Connected Minds, Meta-Physical Theatre illustrates the long-term impact of early-stage research support. What began as an exploration of virtual performance is now informing new ways of thinking about presence, connection, and how technology can create more human-centred digital experiences. A Beta version of Meta Physical Theatre will be available to audiences at The Festival of Live Digital Art coming to York University June 10-12, 2027.

Michael Wheeler is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre, Dance & Performance at York University and a Connected Minds Enhanced Research hire specialising in Emerging Technologies in Acting and Directing. He is Co-Primary Investigator on Meta Physical Theatre and spends a lot of his time thinking about how to put all the different components together artistically.

Matthew Pan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at Queen’s University and a core member of the Ingenuity Labs Research Institute where he leads the Machine Intelligence and Human-Robot Interaction Laboratory (MItHRIL). He is Co-Primary Investigator on Meta Physical Theatre and directs the scientific and engineering component of the research.

Adrienne Wong is a theatre writer, director, performer, and creator whose work straddles theatrical and digital space. She is the Artistic Director of SpiderWebShow Performance. Her work on the project is as a digital dramaturg considering the user experience and meta-meanings from work that straddles virtual and IRL space.

Elizabeth Cox is an undergraduate researcher in Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering at Queen's University. She is currently working on improvements related to the virtual reality environment, and synchronizing the physical and virtual environments together.

Jacquie Groenewegen is a Master's researcher in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Queen's University. She started on the project by designing virtual reality environments to synchronize the robot with the virtual character, with the robot acting as a proxy for the character's arm. Her current work focuses on the dynamics of these interactions, capturing the force feedback expected in interpersonal exchanges with a human counterpart.

Eric Godden is a Connected Minds-supported PhD researcher in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Queen's University. His work on the project started with the initial integration of the robotic system and the virtual environment and is now working towards developing natural robotic motion profiles for dynamic human-robot interaction.

Marcel Stewart is an award-winning actor, writer, theatre director, arts educator, and hip-hop enthusiast. He is a Master’s researcher in the Department of Theatre, Dance & Performance at York University, and the Director of Artistic Outreach at SpiderWebShow Performance. He is the playwright developing and creating the narrative for Meta Physical Theatre.

Dian Marie Bridge is an award winning theatre maker with a passion for community-bridge building, inter-arts collaboration and mentorship. She is Artistic Director of Black Theatre Workshop, and has worked as Associate Artistic Director at Luminato Festival, Artist-in-Residence at Necessary Angel Theatre, both Assistant Producer of the Forum and member of the Michael Langham Workshop at the Stratford Festival, and Artistic Producer of Cric Crac Collective and 4Large Heads Collective. Her work on the project is as a cultural dramaturg considering the artistic and cultural representation in virtual space.

Margaret Evans is the Producer of FOLDA and the Managing Producer for SpiderWebShow Performance. She is a Dora nominated actor and producer for many productions, partnerships, and community events including Balancing Act, national initiative to advocate for and support parents, caregivers, and care needs within the performing arts. Her work on the project is as a consultant, performer and producer.

Michaelah Wales is a Master’s researcher in Computer Science at Queen’s University. Her work as a set designer involves designing and modelling the project’s virtual reality environment, and character design and modelling for the virtual character.

Kimberley McLeod is an Associate Professor in the College of Arts, School of Theatre, English, and Creative Writing at University of Guelph. She is a Collaborator on the project and leads the discussion and thinking around how this Meta Physical Theatre connects to theatre and performance studies.