MAY
14

Cover All Your Bases

We can only imagine how nerve-wracking it must be to be wrapping up the school year having no idea what next school year will look like for your theatre productions.  Many of you are still trying to figure out what to do for your summer theatre camps, and we feel for you!

You might be pretty sure that you won’t be able to have an audience in your auditorium, but will you at least be able to have all your actors together in the same rehearsal space?  And if so, will you have to follow social distancing guidelines and keep actors six feet apart from each other?  How is that supposed to work if they’re in a scene together?!

That’s why we recommend you take a look at our Virtual Theatre plays.  Of course they’re written so they can be rehearsed and performed via Zoom or a similar platform, but the key is that they don’t HAVE to be.  Virtual plays also work great onstage with your actors spaced out for everyone’s comfort and safety. Maybe you’ll have to rehearse online or maybe you’ll have the luxury of meeting together to rehearse.  Maybe you’ll get to play to an audience or maybe you’ll livestream your production.  No matter what, doesn’t it sound wonderful to cover all your bases and leave yourself options?

Let’s take The Virtual Family as an example.  This delightful hour-long play consists of thirteen short scenes, most only involving two characters.  Sure, this eases the technological requirements on Zoom when only two actors need their cameras on at any one time, but it also makes staging it simple, as well.  And by keeping all actors onstage for the entire show, you don’t have to worry about cast members getting too close to one another in the green room or the wings.

Picture all 11 actors spaced across the stage or in your rehearsal area, seated in two or three rows or maybe even spread out more randomly.  As a scene begins, the actors involved in that scene stand and move downstage onto the apron.  They don’t have to stand close since they’re not supposed to be together according to the script.  Still, they interact by looking at each other, then at the end of their scene, they can return to their designated spot and sit while the actors in the next scene move to the apron.  And on and on.

We think you’ll find that all of our virtual plays, including the brand new Left to Our Own Devices, can be adapted like this to work either online or onstage, giving you great flexibility for both rehearsals and performances.  Even if you start your rehearsals one way and your city’s rules suddenly change (for better or worse!)  regarding social distancing, you can smoothly switch gears without having to panic or cancel your production plans!

Virtual theatre can work the other way as well, but this is where we need your help.  We’re hearing from you of traditional plays we carry that are transferring to virtual rehearsals and performances pretty easily, including courtroom trials such as Disorder in the Court and small cast comedies such as A Murdered Mystery or You’re Driving Me Crazy!  If you have found any particular shows that worked for you, please let us know!  We are eager to compile a list of suggestions to share with everyone as soon as we have your input.

And of course, we have two shows that transferred from traditional to virtual so easily that we have both versions available:  Virtual Complaint Department and Lemonade and Fortunes Read — Virtually Only $1.  And to make it even easier, we’ll offer you this:  if you choose either version of one of these two shows and want or need to switch gears midstream, we’ll provide you with a printable PDF of the other version at no extra charge!  How’s that for covering all your bases?!

As you can see, the more we dabble in virtual theatre, the more enthusiastic we become as we see the flexibility and options it gives directors.  We encourage you to learn more about virtual productions with our How-To Guide for Virtual Theatre.  And stay tuned!  We have several more fun virtual plays coming in the next few weeks, including best-selling playwright’s Brian D. Taylor’s Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, where all communication is done via magic mirror!