• Introduction
• Quick start for audience
• Quick start for players
• UpStage
• About the project
• Team
• Get Involved
• Technical information
• About this manual
• Audience
• The role of the Audience
• Join a live cyberformance
• Chat
• Player
• Becoming a player
• Manage your Profile
• Backstage
• Create your own Stage
• Manage your Stage
• Customise your Stage
• Manage your Stage: Media
• Manage your Stage: Chat and Replays
• Manage your Stage : Scenes
• Enter your Stage
• How does the audience see your stage?
• Invite audience
• Media management
• Media in UpStage
• The Studio
• Creating Graphics for UpStage
• Creating Audio for UpStage
• Upload Media
• Modify Media
• Assign Media to your Stage
• Delete Media
• Player : Live Stage
• Enter a live Stage
• Quick overview of tools
• Who is here?
• Chat with the Audience
• Player Chat
• Player: Live Stage Tools
• Audio tool
• Backdrop tool
• Avatar tool
• Avatar Speech and Voices
• Avatar Animation
• Props tool
• Stream tool
• Live Drawing tool
• Object Drawing tool
• Text tool
• Depth tool
• Curtain
• Scenes
• Stage Settings
• Clickable links on stage
• Streaming
• Introduction to streaming
• Sending a stream
• Assign a stream to a stage
• Recording and Statistics
• Statistics
• Chat logs
• Replays
• Screen Recordings
• Admin
• UpStage administration
• Customise your Foyer
• Appendices
• Glossary
• Troubleshooting

Quick start for audience

 This chapter summarises some common questions from our audience.

How can I join a performance / enter a live stage?

You need the link to the live stage. You may have received this link in an email when you booked for the show, or found it on a website or social media. You can also go to the Foyer (e.g. https://upstage.live/) where there are links to currently live stages.

UpStage performances are live, so you need to know what time the performance will happen, in your local time.

At the time of the performance:

1. Click on the link to the stage. It will open in a browser (see the chapter Technical Information for browser recommendations).
2. A loading screen appears; it may include information about the show you're going to see.
3. When the stage is 100% loaded, a message will ask you to "click anywhere to continue".
4. Click on the screen and a pop-up window gives you the option to enter a nickname. If you don't enter a name, your nickname will be "Guest".
5. Click again anywhere on the screen to enter the live stage.

What can I do on the stage?

Today people are used to being able to chat, respond and in various ways participate in live online events. UpStage allows this mainly through the chat window, which gives you many possibilities. When the chat window is visible, the audience can chat and express feelings with emojis.

Write in the field at the bottom of the chat window and press enter (on your keyboard) to send your message. It is visible to all audience and players present on the stage. Text input by audience members appears as grey text, while player text is black and slightly larger font size. Also, to be more confortable you can increase or decrease the size of the font using the + and - buttons just above the chat input field (this only changes the size for you, not anyone else).

Note that the players can choose to make the chat window available or hidden. When it is available, it means that you are welcome to chat. The players can also choose to hide or show the reaction emojis, which appear along the bottom of the screen when you click on them.

Can I change my nickname?

There is a cog icon at the top right of the chat window. Click on this and a pop-up window opens. In the first tab you can change your Nickname.

1. Choose another nickname or simply put an empty space by pressing the space bar once.
2. Confirm by clicking on Save.

Why are the chat and the reaction emojis sometimes there & sometimes not?

Different performances will invite more or less participation, depending on the artistic intentions of the players. The players can hide the chat and the reaction emojis when they don't want audience input, and make them available when they want your response.

I can't hear anything - should I?

Check that you have your device's volume up, and if you are using headphones check that they are working. If you still don't hear any sound, ask in the chat if others are hearing sound - maybe it's just a quiet part of the performance.

If others are hearing sound and you are not, and you have checked your volume and headphones, please reload the stage (using the refresh button in your browser).