Ken Davenport: Every year, I look forward to American Theatre’s Top 10 List of Most Produced Plays. And the list did not disappoint this year. While I usually share the list in my newsletter, this year I wanted to do a bit of a deeper dive . . . into WHY these plays made the list.
8 comments:
I love how this article highlights diversity as a measure for a play's success. Theater should reflect the world around us and appeal to the widest possible audience. The female representation is also so important. Sometimes, I feel like women in theater are caricatures or stereotypes. There's the main character (the MAN!!) and the 'leading lady' who might sing a SUPER boring song or two and then do nothing except be the MAN!!!'s love interest. And it's unsettling to wonder if that's on purpose so that they can sell more seats. They don't want to scare away potential audience member by being too outlandish or disregarding of gender roles. I hope such things change, and apparently they are, according to this ChatGPT article. It's great that the algorithm has identified strong female characters as marker of successful plays.
I think it’s interesting to look at this from the perspective of WHY theaters choose to produce the shows they do. Is it purely to make money? Is there a moral or cultural imperative? Are theaters choosing shows that they think will fill the most seats, or shows that are relevant to the communities they serve? Obviously, this varies from theater to theater, but it’s still interesting to consider. In recent years, there’s definitely been a renewed fascination in politics onstage: Hamilton, the 1776 revival, POTUS, What the Constitution Means to Me, etc. I think you can tell a lot about an audience based on the theater that is selling. In America today, people are taking a more active role in government and encouraging others to do so as well. Seeing that reflected in the theater scene is an interesting parallel. I wonder if there will be a shift away from this after the election.
AI is everywhere so you might as well use it to analyze and better your chances at having a widely produced play or musical. But once you look a little closer into the actual information that the AI has pulled as similarities between all the different pieces are really broad such as the idea of depth and allowing plays to reach a wider diverse audience. It also claims that all the different genres are very diverse which is true but it's not a similarity. The AI was able to pull some basic claims but nothing that might help you figure out the trends in storytelling today. It has nothing written about the styles of plotlines, the development and tactics used in each piece to allow it to reach a wider audience. Without the in-depth analysis of how these shows actually gain the depth that audiences want to see you will have no clue “How To Become One Of The Most Produced Plays Next Year”.
Using ChatGPT as a secondary source like this is interesting. AI doesn’t “think” for itself– it has an algorithm it follows. It’s interesting to see how ChatGPT “thinks” about stuff that’s subjective.
As for the actual analysis, I guess I agree, but I think ChatGPT answered in the way I expected, but not really the way I would’ve wanted. First, it says the same point twice. But some of these reasons aren’t about the plays themselves and are about their reputation and overall plot. I think the most useful of these is social commentary. I do think the key to a relevant play that sticks around is it’s ability to have some sort of cultural relevance. Something that gets the audience to think about it, and how it pertains to them. Some of the points are essentially “it has a good story”. Yes, but why? What makes it good? I guess that’s what you can expect from AI, for the reason I said before. It’s trained on objectivity, but doesn’t know subjectivity. It knows these plays are objectively good and well received.
Sorry! This is Ari :)
The use of Chat GPT to analyze trends in data is in my opinion one of the best uses of the software to date. The software can help sift through data that would take a human days or even weeks to look through. It is fascinating that the most prevalent genres are mostly relevant to modern society, but people also always love a comedy show. This is also prevalent in the popularity of shows with strong female representation as over the past couple of years feminism and strong female role models are very “in”.
I think this is an article that is just another reason why AI scares me. Clearly it is and will continue to prove itself to be an incredibly useful tool, especially when it comes to analyzing common themes that may not be clear to one person. What I found specifically interesting is the rise in trying to bring politics onto the stage. I think that it’s just something that is appealing, especially in the dark political times our country is in now. Overall, I think the most common theme is finding an audience. All of these plays are speaking to a mass. Whether it be trying to spark nostalgia in the viewer or intense thinking, trying to get a laugh from the audience, or just trying to be relatable, these are the common threads between these pieces listed and the future and past of storytelling.
The use of AI to analyze the top ten plays is a fascinating way to go about it. Analysis is one of the primary reasons for the creation of AI, and finding similarities is really its primary function. What I found most interesting about its analysis is that some of it is really insightful, and some of it is just what we already know. For example, it’s interesting that it found social commentary and focus on contemporary issues to be some of the top factors because, historically, theatre was often seen as a way to escape reality and live in fiction for a bit. Now we see a shift toward wanting to see our world reflected in shows, and for the show to present truths that get murky in real life. On the other hand, the AI notes how established works get produced because they are a safe bet economically. While a true statement, that analysis is not very in-depth. It is fascinating how sometimes AI is very in-depth, and sometimes it is very surface-level.
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