onstagepittsburgh.com: Theater is an art form that continues to expand humanity’s understanding of reality through many different formats. We’ve seen the changes that theater has gone through and continues to do so, adapting to encapsulate the reality of modern times and tell stories that grab attention and bring us, the audience, into the world. Quantum Theatre’s production of 10 Out of 12 does exactly this.
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I went to see 10 out of 12 this past Saturday, and I can tell you that me and my family walked out of that room ecstatic about the piece of theater we had just seen. I have just recently started watching theater with my family, specifically my mom, and it has been so heartwarming to see their positive reactions and to talk to them about what my jobs could look like in the future. For 10 out of 12, it was so fun to give them a glimpse into what backstage is like. Obviously dramatized, but still having that little peek into it gave me and my mom more to talk about! I also think the way they went about letting the audience in on the backstage action was so cool! The headsets connected us to that backstage atmosphere, but still kept us immersed in the experience of sitting in the audience. I am imagining other ways of getting the backstage voices as just making them louder, but I think that would have felt like the most fake thing to ever happen.
I didn’t see 10 out of 12, but two of my friends did and I heard their very heated conversation about it the other day. One of them found so much deeper meaning in the show and connected it to questions about how the unionization of the entertainment industry affects the art we make, while the other complained that they didn’t see any point to the show and didn’t find any deeper meaning. What they could agree on though, is that the use of technology extended to the audience made the show immersive in a way they hadn’t seen before. And, listening to their conversation, I could tell that even though one person didn’t get much out of the story, they were definitely both immersed in the experience and invested in the show, and I think that is due to the success of the immersive technology used in this production.
Not to sound controversial or to throw punches, while I found both the book and the experience just lacking a lot of storytelling. For a show that is trying in the script to be energetic chaos, it just wasn’t. It lacked a lot of energy overall, especially in the second act. While absolutely, some of this is the writers fault, not Quantums, they could have made this a lot more immersive. The set was meh, if budget allowed, it would have been cool to have a split set or something so you can actually see backstage, and the stage manager podium closer, or to the side of the front, so you can actually see the acting there without having to do a 180 with your head. To me, it just felt half baked, and could have pushed for more, but I have a feeling this is partially due to the budget. I really enjoyed the lighting, it was quite cool seeing the lights slowly move into “programming position,” and very cool to see that little touch most people won’t understand at all.
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