No Proscenium: The Guide To Everything Immersive: It’s 11 AM. At my desk, my laptop fan whirs disturbingly loud. It’s already stressed by all the tasks I’ve set myself up to today. Still, a feeling of relief shoots through my body as I finally finish reading the byzantine essay by Nicholas Berger imploring theatre makers to stop making remote work over platforms like Zoom and Facebook Live. Finishing this essay is a triumph so sizable I now feel like I should do…nothing? Because that’s what I’ve been told to do.
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After reading this opinion I went to read Berger’s article because I was interested in what they had been saying. I want to say that I veer more towards a similar opinion with this author. I was confused by Berger because if they are a part of the performing arts community, it’s a bit disheartening to hear them speak about people who are literally just minding their own business and making art in a way that they feel proud of. It really resonated with me when they talked about how our struggle to continue things online is us just pretending to be a community. I want to speak to how this author ended this article by saying we should lean into what we are feeling and create what we want from it. Just because others are doing shows or putting stuff online doesn’t mean you, as an artist, also have to. This situation is a time for us to do what we can do, even if it's “bad” or “good.” There is theater being made that leans into this technology, but just because it was made during this time on technology shouldn’t devalue it’s worth as a dramatic piece, because this is simply a way for us to learn new techniques in a changing landscape.
So I commented last week on the article they’re referring to, “The Forgotten Art of Assembly”, which I thought made some good points about people’s desperation to make more art right now and how it’s okay to not be killing ourselves trying to create from home when the result is going to be a pale imitation of what it was meant to be. But I do also think this article makes good points as well, particularly on the economic side of things. Berger’s suggestion to allow ourselves to relax and stop trying to create doesn’t necessarily make space for the freelancers whose livelihoods depend on making art or music, who can’t afford to stop because stopping means losing an audience and name recognition. I think Berger’s article was focused on a slightly different audience, of students and performers and companies who are desperate to do something right now even though they can afford not to.
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