Diana Vallverdu

Diana brings her mathematical and theatrical background to Norwich as a dedicated member of the Creative Computing department. She has experience of freelancing in the theatre industry, having devised mathematically inspired theatre, as well as developing software for immersive performances. Diana’s teaching methods involve collaborative work, as well as participatory exercises where students get to physicalize the code they are writing. She makes sure to understand the students’ individual interests to provide workshops curated to everyone’s enjoyment.

I graduated in Mathematics at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (2018) and hold an MFA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (2021). These studies provided me a blend of experiences that has shaped the work I’ve been involved in throughout my career.

I co-founded and co-direct the theatre company ANTS Theatre, since 2020, which originated as part of my MFA. With ANTS Theatre I devised and performed in the plays Qrumpet (2020 – 2022) and We Still Fax (2020 – 2021). I have also been a part of the devising team of the mathematical piece Axiom of Choice by Marcus du Sautoy (2022), which is scheduled to tour in India in autumn 2024.

As part of my freelance work, I created software for the plays The Tight Squeeze (2022) and Terraforming Mars (2023) by Ludens theatre, which is an immersive theatre company that uses technology to enhance audience interaction.

I am currently researching Human Robot Interaction in the performing arts, specifically using the Fax Machine Robot that I created together with ANTS Theatre for our play We Still Fax. In my research I explore questions such as what makes us empathize with a robot in a performance and whether humans trust humanoid and / or non-humanoid robots.

Practice

• 2023 – Software Developer –Development of an interface for the game-based immersive theatre play Terraforming Mars
• 2022 – Software Developer – Development of a stock market simulator for the immersive theatre play The Tight Squeeze
• 2022 – Deviser and performer – I worked as part of the Axiom of Choice team, a play written by Marucs du Sautoy
• 2022 – Performer – toured Qrumpet with a successful ACE Application
• 2021 – Writer, director, and performer –As part of my MFA thesis, I developed the theatre play 3+D which explores mathematical concepts in as a performance
• 2020 to 2022 – Deviser – Qrumpet, a play where 7 characters are attempting to Quantum Tunnel a crumpet through a wall
• 2020 – Deviser, technologist, and performer – We Still Fax, an immersive experience where the audience is trying to reach an alternate universe through an intergalactic fax machine
• 2018 – 4^th position in MIT Battlecode coding contest – A contest where contestants code an AI to compete in an Age of Empires style game
• 2017 – 3^rd position in MIT Battlecode coding contest – A contest where contestants code an AI to compete in an Age of Empires style game
• 2016 – 8^th position in MIT Battlecode coding contest – A contest where contestants code an AI to compete in an Age of Empires style game