Prepare the live text. Cue the room. Reach the audience.
Sténtor 0.3.40 is a desktop-first workspace for live performance text: projects, multilingual scripts, surtitles, audio description, screens, audience phones and a foyer QR view stay in one operator-controlled workflow.
Current positioning. Sténtor is broader than a bilingual surtitling tool: it is designed for multilingual live text, audio description and audience devices in theatres, festivals and performance spaces worldwide.
What Sténtor is
Sténtor is an app for people who prepare and operate text during live performance. It keeps the source text, translations, surtitles, audio-description notes, projection settings and audience-facing views inside the same project.
Multilingual by design
Project languages are configurable and reused across text, screens, audience phones and foyer views.
Operator-led
The Stage desk / Regia controls cue position, blackout, screens, timing and audience sync.
Local-first
Room mode works on a local network. Internet is not required for a theatre test.
Current version: 0.3.40
The current desktop package is version 0.3.40. Recent work focused on the theatre-room workflow: a foyer/welcome screen with QR code, project title instead of a generic welcome message, wording for “surtitles and audio description”, and language options generated from the languages configured in each project.
| Area | Current capability |
|---|---|
| Desktop | Tauri + React/Vite foundation for macOS Apple Silicon first, with Windows and Linux targets planned. |
| Interface | Sidebar with Projects, Stage desk, Text, Audio description, Screens, Audience and Settings. |
| Audience | QR access, language choice, subtitles, audio description or both, and live following of the operator cue. |
| Screens | Multiple configured projection targets with previews, language settings, aspect ratio and style. |
1. Projects
The Projects view is the archive. Each card shows the title, company or collective, cue count, languages, number of audio descriptions and last update. From there you can open a project, edit details, export or delete it.
- Create a new project or open an existing Sténtor file.
- Keep metadata, languages, cues, audio descriptions and screen setup together.
- Autosave and project-history tools help protect work during preparation.
2. Text and languages
The Text view is the preparation workspace. A project can hold the original text, translations, speaker or character information, markers and inline formatting. The app language is separate from the languages of the script and surtitles.
1{
2 "title": "Macbett",
3 "languages": ["it", "en", "fr"],
4 "cues": [
5 { "speaker": "", "text": "...", "translations": { "en": "..." } }
6 ]
7}
Import is available from JSON, TXT, SRT, WebVTT, CSV and Word .docx. Word import tries to recognise theatrical structure: characters, speeches, stage directions and markers such as act, scene, tableau or interval.
3. Audio description
Audio description is a first-class layer of the project. Notes can be linked to cues, revised in context, exported for rehearsal, and connected to recorded audio files for audience playback tests.
Audio remains local in the prototype. Attached files can be embedded in the project for tests and rehearsal. Public playback still depends on the audience device allowing audio after a user gesture.
4. Screens
The Screens section configures projection targets. Each screen can have its own language, aspect ratio and visual preset. Recent builds improved the screen cards, larger previews and stable scrolling when several screens are active.
Multiple outputs
Open one configured screen or all screens required by the room.
Readable previews
Preview cards show what each active screen receives before and during the show.
5. Stage desk / Regia
The Stage desk is the live operating view. It keeps the current cue, next cue, blackout, timing tools, screen distribution, audience presence and audio-description state close to the operator.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Advance / back / blackout | Manual cueing remains the safest default for live performance. |
| Semi-automatic timing | Timers, recorded cue times and manual override support rehearsed sequences. |
| Operator notes | Quick notes during projection can be linked to cue, language, projected text and timer. |
| External control direction | The codebase already separates external command handling, with MIDI/OSC style control still a roadmap item. |
6. Audience phones
Audience phones connect through a QR code or local address. Spectators choose language and mode: surtitles, audio description or both. The page then follows the Stage desk live while keeping the chosen language on the audience device.
- The operator can monitor connected phones, devices following Regia and devices with audio active.
- The audience interface is intentionally minimal during the show: text first, controls hidden in settings.
- Feedback/survey labels exist in the audience client, but feedback should remain optional and post-use.
7. Foyer QR and welcome screen
The current room workflow includes a foyer/welcome screen: instead of a generic “welcome”, it shows the performance title and a QR code for “surtitles and audio description”. The language list comes from the languages already configured in the project.
8. Local network setup
For a theatre test, run the room server and put the operator computer, projection devices and audience phones on the same local network. Internet is not required; the devices only need to reach the operator machine.
1$ npm install
2$ npm run build
3$ npm run roomIn a venue, a dedicated travel router is often safer than a shared theatre Wi-Fi, especially if client isolation prevents phones from seeing the operator computer.
9. Import and export
Sténtor imports JSON, TXT, SRT, WebVTT, CSV and Word scripts. It exports project JSON, subtitle formats, CSV reports and an offline show package for rehearsal, archive, touring or study.
10. Desktop builds
The desktop foundation uses Tauri with React/Vite. The first target is macOS Apple Silicon, followed by Windows and Linux. The source package does not include a signed or notarized macOS app; that build must be generated on macOS with the required Apple/Rust/Tauri tooling.
1$ npm install
2$ npm run desktop:dev
3$ npm run desktop:buildWhat is still planned
Sténtor is usable as a live prototype, but several areas are still evolving: native multi-monitor management, packaging and signing, stronger desktop storage, external control via pedal/MIDI/OSC, optional translation or AI workflows, and more stable cloud-adjacent services only if they do not damage the local-first theatre workflow.
Download first. Share field notes only after rehearsal or performance, when you have something concrete to tell us.