The Age of Digital Theatre: the Missing Point & the Artist’s Job

It’s a Saturday night, about 7:30 p.m., the lights in the house slowly go dark. The conversation you were having with the person sitting next to you dies out, and you turn your head to the stage with the rest of the audience members doing the same.

This is the most thrilling feeling I will ever experience. Just the thought that I am witnessing the same powerful message on a stage with over 2,000 strangers makes me feel like I have 2,000 new colleagues. The theatre is a safe space for me, and everyone, to learn, grow and connect to emotional vulnerability like never before.

Live theatre. Live theatre, I mean.

I have watched the theatre community struggle with what should be digitalized and what shouldn’t for the sake of the piece and it’s experience for years. I have seen more and more theatre being added to the digital platform over many years. I have always viewed this process as growth, but have considered, in the back of my mind, what harm would come to the experience and mission of live theatre if it were to move quickly to this online format. Now I know.

The theatre community has been assigned the most challenging task: to provide quality content, learning experiences and human connectivity to families and theatre-goers across the country and world in an extremely short amount of time. While this content is great for students, educators and bored people at home, I fear that this is becoming too “normal.”

The mesh was inevitable, as it should be. Just not this fast.

As time progresses through the current events, I do notice that the theatre community is concerned with these ideas as well, and most are eager to get back to the stage or their seat. That being said, there are some major risks and challenges to the post-pandemic world of theatre. Most of the worry and challenge does not stem from the arts community, who is clearly ready to go back to their work, but from the audiences they bring in and the relationship those audiences have to the arts and vice versa.

Every time I go to my screen to watch new plays or interviews that organizations have so graciously put together for us to be stimulated in this time, I can’t help but worry. I worry that when we are allowed the freedom to connect again, there will be fear. I worry that the American lifestyle will slowly give in to this online platform and lose interaction. I worry that the heart of a theatrical space, with the creative team, the actors, the text and the scenic design all harmoniously coming together, will be remembered, but forgotten when we return to a post-COVID-19 life.

What do I mean by remembered, but forgotten? We will remember that there is a purpose and a unifying message to theatre and what it does. We will remember that we are meant to go to the theatre to interact and “be.” We will remember that we love the theatre community for its inclusion, empathy and love. But, we will forget how to live that most needed truth.

We will forget that the purpose of going to the theatre is not to escape, it is to be. We will forget that the purpose of the theatre is not to burn a hole in our pockets when we can just watch live theatre online, but to engage with a community that is thriving with us through the production. We will forget that the purpose of the theatre is not to ask for donations, but to know and remember that we can always do theatre whether it be in a building or not. We will forget that the purpose of the theatre is to live life.

We can’t forget the point to why we are artists. To unite. To collaborate. To excite. Whatever that may be…we can’t forget the point. It is up to us to remember the point, highlight it, exaggerate it, and ultimately bring it back to our audiences.

So what should we do about this NOW?

Listen.

Listen to the environment surrounding us daily. Too often we forget that theatre is being lived out in our everyday lives, and we don’t need a screen to experience it during these times. Use the experiences we have now to cultivate a brighter future. And for the actors: cultivate new processes to experience our art through nature.

DON’T Predict.

What do I mean by this? I mean don’t predict the next time you will see butts in seats. No one can predict when the human population will all feel comfortable enough to be in a seats that are shoulder-to-shoulder. Don’t predict that things will go back to normal, but use the lessons we are learning now to create a new tomorrow. One cannot simply predict what will happen after this is “over” because it will continue for a while; it might deeply surpass what we expected. If not the virus, the fear of the virus, the social interaction weariness, everything associated with what makes a theatre tick will change. Plan, but don’t predict.

Have Empathy.

Empathy is the one thing the theatre does best. Compared to any other corporate mission, empathy is the number one priority in theatre communities. For the actor, student and anyone else: the first step to creating a brighter Fall or Spring or even further than that is to manifest this empathy in yourself. In the world this could come to look like understanding, patience, joy, creativity, charity, etc. Empathy is such a powerful tool to surpass almost any challenge. It creates humanity, it fosters new relationships and strengthens old ones. Manifest empathy.

Do What We Do Best.

Unite. Join. Bring together. Host. Whatever word sticks out, use it. We as artists, arts administrators and educators are known best for our work uniting a community and instilling empathy, love, joy and resiliency in communities young and old, big and small, far and wide. Let’s use that gracious gift we have been given to not instill a false sense of hope, but to lead our country and the world back to a place of changed normalcy.

Let’s make sure, as a community, society does not miss the point. We have a beautiful job, let’s do it.