Live performance needs live words.
For every audience.
Sténtor is a cross-platform tool for surtitles, translation and audio description in live performance.
Created and developed by Leonardo Mancini (University of Turin, Italy), within the public engagement project ETICA.
Origin
Why Sténtor exists
Sténtor starts from a practical problem: live performance often needs more than one layer of text. A production may need surtitles, translations, audio-description notes, operator cues, venue screens and audience phones — all while the show is happening in real time.
The name refers to Stentor from Greek mythology: not as an image of combat, but as the figure remembered for a bronze voice. Sténtor turns that image into a theatre tool: not louder sound, but clearer transmission of words, languages and descriptions.
The project is developed by Leonardo Mancini (University of Turin, Italy) within the public engagement project ETICA, as a research-driven software project for live performance. It keeps essential tools accessible and asks users to contribute feedback, usage notes, audience responses and research data that can help the software grow through real performances.
A different kind of software model
Sténtor is built around access, research and live use rather than feature gates or enterprise tiers.