JUN
9

Theatre in the Next Year

By Debra Fendrich, Executive Editor, Pioneer Drama Service 

I know the last three months have been heart-breaking for so many performers and directors with productions cancelled, play competitions halted, and theatre camps scratched.  Even though it will be a while before anything returns to “normal,” I actually have a great deal of hope for the future of amateur and educational theatre in the next year!

There are two reasons for my optimism.  First, in the absence of professional theatre, I believe people will support community and school theatre like never before.  If months of staying at home has taught us anything, it’s the importance of performing arts to enrich our lives and make us feel human.  Sadly, along with professional theatre, I’m afraid concerts, orchestras, choirs, and dance are also off the table.  That leaves amateur and school theatre as the one possible performing art to rise and fill the vacuum, and non-professional theatre can and will do so, thanks to my second point.

I’ve loved seeing in the last three months just how malleable theatre can be, as long as you’re not trying to do the classic plays and musicals from Broadway.  I’ve always appreciated how creative and resilient theatre folks are, but even I’m amazed and impressed how quickly virtual theatre has risen to provide a very viable alternative to traditional theatre.  And beyond traditional and virtual, we’re also learning that performances can be socially-distanced (yes, really!)  and/or livestreamed, either with or without an audience in the auditorium.

So what is virtual theatre, you ask?  Fair question, considering it didn’t exist just three months ago.  Virtual theatre is the performing of a play specifically written to be both rehearsed and performed remotely.  This means it utilizes a video-conference platform such as Zoom, with every actor in their own home for both rehearsals and the actual performance.  Most virtual theatre plays assume that all the characters are interacting in real time with each other, but are separated somehow.  Think astronaut and mission control.  Or someone trying to rescue a person trapped in a cave.  Or a virtual date.  In other words, because the plot calls for the characters to be communicating via their devices, it’s not contrived for them to be doing so.  In fact, it fits and works really well.

Not only does it work, but it’s a lot of fun!  Because each character is supposed to be separated from the other characters, they each can come up with their own background, often embellished with the help of a downloaded photo.  Trapped in a cave?  Add a picture of some stalactites.  At a drive-thru placing an order?  Why not actually be sitting behind the wheel of a car?  Each actor can also be responsible for their own costume, and yes, even costume changes are possible.

Though not officially required, a virtual performance is much stronger when all the actors have their lines memorized and are playing their characters large, as if in a big auditorium.  After all, this is far more than just a play reading.  You might even be surprised that some movement is possible in virtual theatre, such as entrances and exits by having the camera on with nobody in the screen.  Props, of course, also help bring the play to life.  You can even “pass” a prop, such as an envelope, from one actor to another by having the first actor hold it out and then lower it below the view of the camera while the next actor picks up an identical looking envelope as if it was just handed to them!

Pioneer Drama is proud to offer a free How-To Guide for Virtual Theatre to help you understand both the creative possibilities and some of the technical details.  And we’re thrilled that in just three short months we already offer a dozen virtual theatre scene collections and full plays, with another dozen coming before the next school year begins!

Perhaps, though, you’re one of the lucky directors who will get to rehearse and perform with actors together...  as long as “together” means at least six feet apart.  Well, call it a socially-distanced performance and make it work!  Keep all the actors onstage the entire show, at least six feet from everyone else, to avoid any gatherings in the wings or green room.  We can help you find shows that will work in this situation, either because all characters are onstage for the entire show or because all the action can be spread out along the apron with the actors not currently in a scene seated an appropriate distance apart from each other on the rest of the stage.

Maybe you’re even luckier in that your actors can perform normally, but you won’t be able to have an audience in your auditorium.  No worries!  When you arrange your performance rights with Pioneer Drama, we charge the same for traditional, livestreamed, or virtual performances!  Even if you thought you’d be performing live but have to switch last minute to livestreaming, there’s no problem, no paperwork, and no extra cost!  Unclear how to set up a livestreamed performance?  Stay tuned!  By August, Pioneer hopes to partner with a company that can help you with livestreaming, and can even offer you ticketing options so you can charge admission to your livestreamed event!

Even though theatre is all about human interactions, we are in a far better position than any of the other performing arts to adapt to new restrictions and limitations.  Thanks to this flexibility, combined with the fact that people have so few other alternatives, I’m optimistic that those yearning for an artistic expression of human connection will enthusiastically embrace any type of theatre performance, whether virtual, socially distanced, livestreamed, or traditional.