Saturday, May 11, 2013

Stage Sense: Live Theater/Experimental Theater

I just wanted to take a moment to share this link with you all.

http://fuckyeahgreatplays.tumblr.com/post/49775395174/i-know-some-of-you-geek-out-over
Mrs. Mayfield… is part play, part party, in which a group of former classmates (now all pushing thirty) reunite for a night of drinks and nostalgia. As people revert to their more childish sides, Lord of the Flies-style, what follows is a battle for affection, power, and ownership of memories. Also: nineties music!
Audience members will be fellow guests at the party, with the freedom to wander the space (Sleep No More-style), and have complete control over how interactive the experience is for them: a red nametag means, “Don’t talk to me,” while a green nametag indicates, “Yes, interact with me.”

Apparently, a theater group not too far from where I live is doing this fresh concept for an interactive theater piece!!

I've not yet had the honor to attend "Sleep No More" which is one of the more famous examples, but the gist is this: Audiences in attendance will be able to not only view, but actually participate in this evening of the arts. I have submitted to the email address listed in the link with the hope of attending.

 I've been involved in plenty of environmental theater in my time here in NYC and I think that anyone bold enough to tackle such concepts should be given respect just for the courage to undertake the activity; Skepticism comes in a variety of forms and I think many theatergoers are jaded to the idea; We've all been to a kitschy restaurant that was "interactive theater", but to do so demands a versatility to keep things interesting, and a fortitude to do so night after night. That being said in restaurants it's rarely executed well. But to incorporate audience members into a fully-realized production, and a brand new one at that, means a whole lot more. I've been working with a theater company for a couple years now and we've had a version of this concept (though very different in execution) that gets bandied about every six months or so, a long-simmering idea.

I applaud these gentlemen and ladies, and I eagerly await a chance to see what they've done.   If you're in the NYC area and want to find out more, you can click the link at the top of this post.


However since I haven't seen it yet, I can't end this post with a rating; Instead, let me open it up to comments!! What was the coolest/weirdest/most interesting piece of interactive theatre that you have ever been privy to?

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