An Experiment in Storytelling (The Other Side of The Weekend)
Well, that happened.
That’s one of my favorite things to say after a show because it’s non-committal. It doesn’t say “That went great, I am so proud of myself!” or “That went bad, please assuage my vanity.” It lands in the middle.
In my mind, it concedes a small amount of success because it implies that the show did, in fact, go on.
And last Friday. It Did.*
I was trying something new. An experiment in storytelling, as indicated in my previous blog post. And, as with any experiment, there were some hiccups. Tech issues that sent me running back home 45 minutes before we were to start. Audio for the “Plan D” that we ended up using wasn’t working even though EVERY indicator that I checked showed me levels and was responsive. I was flustered and thus did not properly introduce the event or myself. My friend Brian, who was one of the first to speak, said it best… “This whole thing is weird.”
Then, we took an intermission.
When 7 people returned after intermission, I was happy.
When each of those 7 people shared a story, I was elated.
When one of those 7 people (who had never been to our theatre before the event on Friday) came back to see our mainstage show on Sunday, enjoyed herself and promised to come back….I am not ashamed to say, I almost cried. Well, maybe I wasn't going to cry, but I was really really happy.
Well, that happened.
And I certainly hope it keeps happening.
*In all the craziness of the evening, I did not get a chance to properly thank all the people who participated. Special Thanks to:
David J. Loehr – Davidjloehr.com
Dave Charest-DaveCharest.com
Rebecca Coleman-Artofthebiz.com
Travis Bedard-Cambiareproductions.com
Chris Ashworth – Figure53.com
Scotty Iseri – Scottygotanofficejob.com
Monica Reida (fragments) who “skyped in” from Iowa.
And Paul, Brian, Andy, Pearl, John, Jesse, Chelsea, Hank, and Tim who all shared stories.
posted by ZombieKiller14 at 11:46 AM
4 Comments:
That did happen.
When the audience is asking when the next 360 will be, or if it's a weekly thing, you've done it right. And when they come back to see a show...
I love the idea of being able to participate from a distance, of being able to see the live stream. It's also good because it helps to show off one way to produce a 360 or--more important, maybe--it shows the audience what to expect, what kind of stories they can hear and maybe tell.
Best of all, now we know what to focus on. Which is to say, more tech people for you. ;)
Great job, sir. Let's keep happening.
Love to hear that the event brought new people into the Strawdog space for the first time -- that's the opportunity that is lost on so many storefront theaters when they don't make their space a multi-use facility.
I think a 2amt event that isn't late night would draw some of the folks who have kids at home, as well as those of us who live on a CTA line that, as of January, stops running after 10:30 at night.
This was great fun. Thanks for letting us join in.
Is there any chance of the edited video getting online. I'd love to hear the beginning stories since we missed them do to the audio issues.
In any case congrats on pulling it off!
I will put up the videos that I created after I've edited them down a bit. They went way too long. I'll also put up the individual stories from folks after I verify with them that it's okay.
We're looking at dates for another one soon.
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