Now, normally when I think our industry should do something, I try to figure out how to do it myself, but I knew that producing a convention was something I knew nothing about, nor did I want to learn. So I blogged away, and before I laid me down to sleep, I prayed that a BroadwayCon would one day a-peep.
Then, just last week, it happened.
7 comments:
Although this is just one person’s perspective of the convention, it seems like a pretty fair assessment of what may have occurred. A few things didn’t surprise and somethings I am very happy happened. The thing that I was happy to read was the demographic information. I also found it interesting that the article mentioned that today’s 20-year-old is tomorrow’s traditional theatre-goer. This gives me somewhat mixed emotions actually because it reinforces that older audiences must fall into a “traditional” category and they are they are the ones that support theatre. And although there is a huge possibility that this could hold true for a long, long time, the more people assume it’s going to happen, the more likely it will happen. By encouraging these 20-year-olds at the convention to take steps to avoid becoming the “traditional” theatre goer, such as encouraging against conforming to the trends of theatre and that there is more to theatre than just Broadway, which may seem hard to deliver given the name of the convention.
Although some people were skeptical about the idea of a BroadwayCon, I loved it since the moment I heard of it. In my opinion the people who looked down on the idea of BroadwayCon are also the kind of people who tend to be elitist about theater in general. Then again, I may be biased because I love conventions in general. To me, a convention is about coming together with a bunch of other people who are passionate about the same thing and celebrating your passion loudly, flamboyantly, and without shame. They are a place where people get to just be whole-hearted nerdy about the things they love, where they get a chance to meet their heroes, and make new friends. Conventions are an incredibly positive space in my opinion and they can help open up the world of theater to wider audiences as well as kindle the love of our current audience. To me as someone who works in theater one of the most wonderful things to me is the sense of community you develop with the other people working on the show. To me, BroadwayCon represents a chance for us to reach out and create a strong community with our audience as well.
I wasn't sure before exactly how I should feel about this convention. In my head there was quite a large question as to what it would be like. Would it turn into a comic-con mess, with overcrowding and people dressed up as their favorite characters? I guess I just assumed it wouldn't be the type of event I would want to go to. After reading this, I'm starting to believe that BroadwayCon might be something I would want to go to someday. It still sounds crowded. I'm sure there was plenty of bad singing. But those can be forgiven. Who knows, maybe I'll go next year? I would also like to express how happy I am that people were interested in the production panel. Heck, I'm happy there was a production panel, regardless of turnout.
In all honesty, I have repeatedly made fun of the idea of BroadwayCon since it was announced that it would be happening. I assumed it would be a bunch of mildly irritating preteen to teenage girls screeching about Aaron Tveit's hair and Ramin Karimloo's arms and singing every Webber song known to man. However, while it seems like there was a respectable amount of screeching and frustratingly horrid singing, it was also something incredible to experience. As Helena mentions, a convention is about people all coming together and sharing their passion for one thing. It would have been pretty interesting to go to an event and know that everyone in the room loved theatre. On top of that, the amount of production and management related panels that were offered makes me wish even more that I had been able to go. I'm glad that these panels were populated around as much as the other show panels were.
Like many of those who commented above, I was not sure quite what to think when the idea of a bunch of Broadway fans were getting together to go to a convention about Broadway. I Feel like this hesitation comes from the fact that we are pretty young and the only hardcore Broadway fans we have met were, to quote Claire Farrokh "Irritating pre-teen girls". Many of are really just starting to meet people of the older generations who are just as excited or even more excited about Broadway as we are. After reading this article, I am glad that something like this could come together for the many fans of theatre. I really liked how the convention was not only about the actors on the stage, but about other parts of the production process as well. After having recently taken molly's class about networking, i am wondering weather or not people took Broadwaycon as an opportunity to network? Was the environment open for that kind of activity> Overall, I think all parties involved in the con benefited in some way and that is a successful convention if you ask me.
BroadwayCon sounds like it was a lot of fun. I really want to go, but maybe not within the next 4 years (unless they move to a more college student friendly date). I have liked reading all of the recaps and watching videos of the different panels, but I am sure that it is a completely different experience to be there, surrounded by people who are as much complete theatre geeks as you are. One thing that intrigued me about the article was the mentions about demographics at the convention. I thought that it was interesting that the author thought that it would mainly be wealthy women in their 40’s that would be there. Maybe I am biased in that I go to college for drama, but I have always thought that the con would be made of people closer to my age, which is what actually happened. This is great for the future of the theatre industry.
This is so great to hear! I was very excited about the potential for this event, so it's pretty awesome to find out that it did indeed follow through. I love that there seems to be a sense of genuine love and respect for the art at this conference, rather than what would be called "fangirls/boys". I think that is what a lot of people (including me for a time) expected a conference like this to be. I love that the community is becoming a real, tangible thing through this kind of in-person meeting and making of friends. Many times, with something like Broadway, you'll get fans who connect through the internet or something similar, which is all fine and good, but I think the strengthening of the community definitely comes from getting everyone together this way. I love that in a way, Broadway is really giving back to its fans and all the stars who showed up at the conference make a big difference in the hearts of so many young theatre lovers.
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