EXTRA CRITICUM

Zoom Theatre May Have Left Us Some Important Gifts. Don't Miss the Rare Opportunity That's Arriving.

We can hardly contain ourselves with the glee that stems from the idea that our current way of life may possibly be coming to an end... or at least a kind of optimistic pause 

In the meantime, those of us who make plays. films, musicals, operas, ballets, etc. etc. find ourselves stuck in the same boat: not 100% seaworthy, overcrowded, and possibly not even sailing in one discernable direction.

The Most Basic Questions:

Will Zoom Theatre continue even after we've all stopped needing to construct approximated lives via our laptops?

When will theatre lovers, for example, not hesitate for one moment when lining up to purchase tickets for shows that pack us into houses with the cool efficiency of one of our major commercial airlines?

Will the type of work that audiences clamor for have changed in any fundamental way as a direct result of a steady diet of talking heads in screens? 

And has more than a year of making theatre happen within the narrow confines of the Zoom Box somehow helped us all to see some of the ways in which the traditional rules of how theatre gets made and who gets to make it don't necessarily need to be renewed without question?

What Have We Learned? Surely a lot. No?

COVIUSbe sure there's nothing we'd like to carry with us into the future, a future that's anything but certain for the performing arts.

The Day My Systems Failed Me. New systems often introduce new complications but if we know to expect a bump in the road or two, we can meet the challenges with confidence.

March 20, 2021. The day started out like any other. I checked my calendar to scan the horizon of the day ahead and planned my approach to various items that popped up. I admit I was surprised at how easy the day seemed and though I felt a vague unconscious question rising around the fact of this particular Friday including only one private studio session, I quickly explained it away with my usual go to: Time is elastic under Pandemic Pause.

It wasn't until evening when I got around to checking email that I discovered what had occurred.

Due to an error in the creation of an automated system for scheduling and tracking student appointments, almost an entire day of private sessions were missed. The result? Several students in my private studio found themselves logging on to our private Zoom meetings and watching the time pass as they waited for a teacher who would never show.

As my high school drama teacher was fond of saying: Not good people!

We're now one year into Pandemic Pause. Your laptop is your lifeline. Make peace with it.

We've now been living our lives on Zoom for a year. What does this mean?

Well, among other things, it means most of our interactions--social and professional--are governed by what the device we use to log in will and will not do. My students are playwrights, directors, actors, singers and filmmakers. All creative artists with professional goals for making important new work and sharing it with the world.

It's based on this last assumption that I offer up a few thoughts on your relationship to your technology, specifically to the device that is your portal. Because in the end, you may write the Next Great American [fill-in-the-blank] but if you can't manage to save it as a PDF and send it out into the world, well... a certain tree in a certain forest comes to mind.

1. 1. Zoom. I may have dissed Zoom in some other posts and of course I understand it's not the same thing as actual sharing of actual air space. But for now, it's what we've got. Learn how it works. Don't be the one kill-joy who arrives at the party asking where the drinks are. The bar is usually in the kitchen and the ice is usually in a bucket by the sink and glasses are set out beside the bottles. Help yourself. If you don't yet know how to mute and unmute, turn your video on and off, etc. etc. you have only yourself to blame. Zoom has not rearranged the layout of this party in 12 months. They have helpful tutorial videos at zoom.us. Find them. Watch them. Google some others. Know how to use the tools available.

The Fuel Getting Me Through Pandemic Pause is You

It's taken me a good six months but I think I've finally landed on one of the most effective antidotes to Pandemic Pause Malaise. Since March my teaching activities have slowly increased week by week by week. And in a less direct way, perhaps almost unconsciously, I've been increasing the various opportunities for encountering the creative work of colleagues. 

Some of you have joined us for the monthly celebration of monologue we call Some1Speaking. It's been one of the most important means of staying sane for me. And it wasn't until last night when we heard some amazing work from John Yearley, Sara Israel, Sherry Friedman, Alonzo Lamont and my dear old pal from the days of Naked Brunch, Mr. Rick Park. Rick's piece, by the way, closed out the hour with a riveting performance by a Minneapolis-based actor I'd never met before,  Andre Shoals. Wow. So, yeah, one of the things that keeps me sane these days is the work itself. It's inspiring to hear writers like Yearley and Israel who are really working at the top of their game.

And then the other thing that's huge for me is the warm fuzzy feeling I get when I can see first-hand that simply making the space for this is having an impact. Now, more than ever, I feel we artists need each other. We need to see and hear each other and be reminded of others who, like us, may occasionally fall into deep dark despair but manage against all odds again and again to sit down and make new work.

When I see you creating something powerful it renews my faith in my own ability to do the same.

That's why, as it became clear that this Thanksgiving was going to contribute to bigger hotter fires of infection all across the country, I knew what I had to do. I had to make room in my week for more opportunities to bump up against your new work.

And so from now through the end of February (at least), I'll be hosting a free online Wednesday Gathering from 8PM to 9PM, EST. This will be a kind of open mic but I really hope that visual artists will join us too. Take 5 min. to show us some slides or film or just talk about your practice. We'll gather weekly and in so doing, I have no doubt, we'll each, in our own way emerge renewed and energized.

For security reasons, if you want to join us, you'll need to sign up in advance. Please join the circle.

#Unfriendfacebook

Look what just showed up in my INBox.
Wow, Facebook. You really care. That means so much!

 

Umm... No, thanks. I'm good.
But thanks for everything, Facebook. ;)

Here are just a few of the stories you may have missed. Click on the image to link to referenced article. If you have a story to add, please do so as a comment to this post. Thanks!

 

 

 

YouTube Promos 4 Live Theahtuh!

Here's a re-post from 2008. I was reminded of this problem/issue/question recently when I stumbled upon the super slick promo video for the Flea's upcoming show. Here it is so you can take a look.

I don't know about you, but as lovely and adrenaline-pumped as this is, there's absolutely nothing here that would make me decide to open my wallet and purchase tickets. How about you?

What follows is my original post on the subject. And links to two promo videos that I think were super cool and effective.

Concert Window: A new cyber-intimacy between performer and audience

The other night my friend Ann Klein, a fabulously talented singer-songwriter with amazing guitar chops gave a concert in her livingroom. The audience, however, were all in our own homes. I was on my sofa. This new form of performer-audience interaction is made possible by a website called Concert Window.

And I must admit, despite some deeply held Luddite tendencies, I was charmed.

"I wanted you to be the first to know." Seriously? That the best you could come up with?

An email solicitation from BAM came into my INBox today with the following subject hedder:

I wanted you to be the first to know...

Backin'-up Song has a lot to offer to aspiring songwriters who are willing to listen closely

Have you all stumbled upon this YouTube sensation? The interview footage from a newscast on a local convenience store robbery was transformed using Auto-Tune into a pop song. Now, we can argue forever about Auto-tune and the value of turning ordinary spoken word into song but, frankly, I'm bored by that whole angle.

What's amazing about this video is the mining of so much from so little. I mean, if you were to watch the raw footage of the interview with Diana, the featured survivor of the robbery, I'm sure it would hardly warrant even a second thought. There's not much there there.

Indie Musicians take note: a new antidote to playing to a depressingly sparse room

Most small venues that cater to indie bands and singer-songwriters have a pretty informal financial arrangement with artists they host. Either there's a minimum guarantee or a door split or what have you. But the key is: no one has risked a ton of cash on the selling out of any particular gig. The result? All too often really talented musicians play in a bar to 4 or 5 friends and the bar staff.

Now there may be an solution on the horizaon in the form of something called: Ticketometer, which on the Kickstarter model, allows a musician to set a minimum # of tickets sold to trigger the actual performance. Here's some more detail from a recent post on springwise.com

Dear ESPN Spammers. I'm afraid you may have made a wrong turn somewhere. This is Extra Criticum, not Extra Innings.

Over the past few days a number of oddly cryptic comments have appeared on various posts throughout the site, all authored by one Linda2077. Spam comments on blogs are generally easy to spot as they usually contain an overt pitch for a product or website. But Linda2077 was a bit more subtle. Perhaps she has a fancy title to match her spamming acumen. Something like: Senior Director of Pseudo Grassroots Enthusiasm? All her comments were vaguely specific and yet each contained the name of at least one major player of the NFL. On a post about early Obama administration efforts to motivate artists to address social issues, Linda added something cryptic about Greek gods or something and then, threw in some player's name. Forgive me if I've already wiped the specifics from my hard drive.

In any case, her oeuvre has now been sent to the appropriate authorities for further investigation. With a little luck, Linda will land in a place more hospitable to what she's selling. After all, we've all got something to sell. There's no crime in that. It's just helpful to pick the proper street corner before you head out on your day.

Big thanks to EC author John Yearley for spotting this cyber-Willy Loman.

A Visit To The Cherry Orchard, Live, Sort Of

This week I visited a cherry orchard to experience something I’ve been avoiding.  I discovered that it’s actually pretty good.

Five years ago the Metropolitan Opera, led by its new and intrepid General Manager Peter Gelb, pioneered simulcasts of operas to cinemas around the country.  (The Met calls it a “cinemacast.”)  Gelb’s bravura move was accompanied, in classic opera tradition, by a chorus of skepticism and prophesies of doom.  Guess what?  It’s been a success.  Mind you, not on the scale of LinkedIn’s IPO or Facebook, but these days any success in the performing arts counts as a big success.

Big shots who don't need social media don't understand why us nobodies use it

My guess is that New York Times executive editor Bill Keller gets all his phone calls returned. I'll bet that he has party invitations for every night of the week and has strangers trying to get his attention at every conference room and cocktail bar he steps into. I don't think he means to brag about this, but that what he's doing when he wonders aloud why we need stuff like Twitter and Facebook:

The most obvious drawback of social media is that they are aggressive distractions. Unlike the virtual fireplace or that nesting pair of red-tailed hawks we have been live-streaming on nytimes.com, Twitter is not just an ambient presence. It demands attention and response. It is the enemy of contemplation. Every time my TweetDeck shoots a new tweet to my desktop, I experience a little dopamine spritz that takes me away from . . . from . . . wait, what was I saying?

Be Careful What You Wish For: Everyone's backstage now. And, it's a bit crowded. Not to mention, uncomfortable.

Theatres everywhere are opening the doors to their rehearsal and production process in hopes of expanding ticket sales. Here are just a few examples of the myriad videos available online in which cast, crew, directors, writers talk to the camera about what they intend to do and how they intend to do it.

Three Pianos video promo

The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism, Socialism (with a key to the scriptures)

Mark Taper Forum backstage tour

Bonnie & Clyde

There's just one problem. No one has any evidence that any of this meta-content actually increases ticket sales. Or, if there is real hard evidence of this, I haven't seen it.

facebook: where some rules apply only to the little guy

If you try to add more than 4 new friends to your facebook profile you get a little self-righteous pop-up message that says something like: "It seems as though you may be trying to use facebook for commercial purposes, outsided its intended use. If this continues, your profile will be deleted." (Okay, I am paraphrasing, but you get the gist.)

That's all well and good, I suppose, but then, how do they explain this?