New York Theater: Jim McCarthy was as charmed and cheered as everybody else by the online shows in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many, he soon tired of these spontaneous, slapdash productions, mostly on Zoom, a platform built for meetings, not theater. Yet it wasn’t long before McCarthy saw the limitless possibilities of a new medium.
3 comments:
It’s so interesting to see how people who are excited to delve into new and unheard of mediums will often still shy away from digital or online theatre as a possibility. I feel like being forced to pivot to Zoom, live streaming, or other online mediums during the pandemic has put many people in the industry at a disadvantage when it comes to being willing to embrace the possibilities of theatrical art expanding into an online platform – because it was so comforting to return to in-person theatre, and Zoom theatre was penetrated by a fear that in-person theatre could possibly be lost for good, people are unwilling to consider the potential for live and online shows to coexist. There are vast new opportunities as technology continues to become more and more advanced to explore what “online theatre” can actually look like – it doesn’t need to be a play that was written and rehearsed to be performed live on a stage forcibly pivoting to a rushed and unfulfilling platform like Zoom. When we lean into the idea that the final product will be presented online, we can play with different softwares and ideas to make it just as engaging and immersive, and even more accessible. I don’t think we should discredit virtual theatre as “less than” the “real thing” – it’s just another way to express art.
This article is about Jim McCarthy’s breakthrough in digitalizing the performing arts during the pandemic. Before the pandemic began, I felt like being sick/needing to stay in isolation was almost somewhat stigmatized. At least where I went, I knew there was a solid chance that if I even missed one class due to feeling unwell, I would be penalized by falling back in my schoolwork during the day, learning the dance choreography in the evening, and missing out on crucial rehearsal time or even actual performances at night. Myself and most of my friends would end up just attending school anyways with no concern for my own health and the people around me. About a month before the pandemic hit, I remember getting some weird sickness that made it almost impossible for me to function, but I ended up attending school anyway because I had all of my classes that day. Nobody really thought about how easy it would be to digitize everything, making it easier not only for people to access the performing arts during a pandemic, but also making it easier for people who couldn’t due to physical limitations, such as distance or having conflicting schedules. Humans are meant to adapt, and with technology that makes doing this so easy, why wouldn’t we?
Ava Notarangelo
During the at-home phase of the COVID pandemic, Zoom and digital theater seemed like innovation at its peak to me - artists working to create art safely and from their homes with the tools they had on hand - their screens, themselves and occasionally a ring light or green screen. One of the big Oregon theaters - the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is still putting on Zoom productions - multiple in fact. I point that out to acknowledge that digital theater is still going strong - in many ways it's a new, blossoming type of theater that is beginning to carve its own shape in the industry, and I’m glad some authors are trying to acknowledge this. I think that digital theater is uniquely accessible - both financially (recognizing that not everyone has access to a computer and/or reliable internet) and geographically, in that . In response to the last question posed by the author - does it have to be live to be considered theater? I’m not sure - the lines between film and theater are blurred in that respect.
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