In late summer, Seattle theaters began to roll out their answers to an unnervingly big question that’s threatened to swallow them since March: How are we going to do what we do in the middle of coronavirus?
Thursday, September 10, 2020
Seattle theaters get inventive, finding ways to perform even during pandemic closures
In late summer, Seattle theaters began to roll out their answers to an unnervingly big question that’s threatened to swallow them since March: How are we going to do what we do in the middle of coronavirus?
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This article is tackling a question that has been on many theatre makers minds since the second everything closed in March. What is the alternative to the 2,500 year old craft we have called theatre? And I don’t think this article answers this question neatly, but I think it begins to tackle and demonstrate the challenge that theatremakers have been going through during this pandemic. I do really like the fact that these particular theatres found fun and interesting solutions to the problem of being unable to do theatre. However, the article doesn’t articulate the success of the new mediums these companies have explored. I also think what is the most interesting is that out of every industry - we’re the one currently unemployed and we have the opportunity and the time to really disassemble the white supremacist nature and culture that persists within the theater world. While I think others want to do that work, we’re one of the only industries that actually is doing the work (sort of?) right now.
I wanted to read this because I’ve been think about how to do a virtual project for playground. These were some interesting ideas. I agree with what one art director said about how we aren’t film makers so they wanted to stay away from just video taping performances. I liked the idea of audio performances. It would allow the listers to create the visuals in their mind. Imagining It makes me really want to experience it. I also like how ArtsWest Is providing Antiracism training for everyone.
This article immediately drew my attention because it’s all about Seattle theater companies’ response to the pandemic; I’ve been thinking a lot about my hometown, this week especially because of the fires all across the west coast. I loved being able to read about some of the projects going on there; I was able to attend a virtual event hosted by the Seattle Repertory Theater, which was a workshop led by their Production Stage Manager. This is one example of ways people are re-inventing theater in our communities during a global pandemic. Book-It’s idea of putting books into audio shows for their audience is a wonderful way to keep their audience connected to them, and I look forward to seeing it come to fruition. ArtsWest’s project is truly a creative experiment with live virtual theater; I really resonated with the comment that the theater industry is not the film industry, we can’t just make everything into a movie because that’s not the extent of our abilities and we can find new and creative ways to engage with theater other then film (we already have an industry and community for that!). This was super inspiring, especially to see my hometown keeping theater alive, and expanding what theater means in the digital world.
It was especially easy for me to read this article as it shares a lot of websites and concepts that I like to explore. I personally enjoy visiting NTL website as well as watching recorded performances on OntheBoards. Despite the differences, I think they both do great jobs providing the performance videos. I still appreciate Gus Menary for pointing out that turning the live performance into the video is never an easy or a simple task. A number of Korean performances have actually tried doing those as well, and while they mainly got praised, there were also some complaints about the poor volume controls or music qualities, etc.
I think coming up with the idea for theater “using the pandemic itself” was the most intriguing phrase of this article. Along with the reference to Peter Brook’s idea about an Empty Space, I think it is a great opportunity for creators to re-ponder the real message that they want to offer the audience, although it might not be on the real site, on the stage.
I agree with Ella, a lot of theatre makers have been asking this question since March. I think that this could be looked at as a time for innovation and experimentation. What is possible with what we have now at our hands? What do we think we can create if we get enough brains in one room? From the article, a few ideas seemed pretty standard and are things that have been done before, such as the audio drama. The other ideas are also intriguing and I think worth exploring and expanding on, such as the On the Boards’ telephone performance. I think also it would be good to keep track of how successful these ventures into a new realm of theatre are. Maybe audience surveys and such on how the experience was for them? Or even doing just small tests groups with new ideas like they do when a video game is being developed.
It is important to find ways to be innovative in this time to keep audiences engaged, performers performing, and technicians working. Live virtual theatre is a way of keeping a semblance of theatre going, but I don’t think we should be considering this the new normal in any way. This is a transition for us to find that new normal- to explore, invent, create, and experiment, in a time where there are so many unknowns. The examples of theatre that these Seattle locations have been doing are an interesting step in the realm of virtual theatre, that I haven’t necessarily seen before. Off of what JC brought up, I think getting a gauge of audiences reaction to these virtual explorations and productions would be incredibly beneficial to the continual success of these types of productions. Everyone is going to have a different opinion on what they want to see and how they feel like they can or can’t connect to theatre virtually, but even a baseline will be helpful in moving forward and seeing how productions can continue to develop and grow virtually.
The biggest line that stuck out to me in this whole article was "just one performer, one audience member and an empty space can instigate a moment of theater" and I love the example that follows after with Temporary Occupancy. Reading what that experience is and visiting the website had be going "this is what I want from digital/online theater". The entire experience seems like an online version of several different interactive theater events that I've heard of, and I think that concepts like this are a really good way of keeping younger audiences engaged with the work and interested in theater. "Ways" sounds interesting as well. I really like how it's broken up in acts and ends with everyone coming together when it's safe to come together to watch theater again. Out of all the various online/digital theater attempts I've seen, the ones mentioned in this article actually held my interest and made me want to participate in them. I think these three ideas carry an interesting range of performer-audience interaction and would love to see other companies and institutions partake in concepts like this.
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