I just want to say “ditto” and add that thinking about what was waiting for me at the theatre– acceptance, friendship, a challenge– helped me get through the day, and inspired me to work a lot harder in school so I’d be able to keep participating in what I loved.

I also feel like theatre gave me discipline. The children were held to the same standards as adults in terms of being on time, being prepared, and working hard, and that’s stuck with me throughout my life.

I grew up as a Girl Scout – I’m talking K-12 – and it had a huge part in shaping who I am today: a tolerant, loving, respectful person. No, I’m not a self-proclaimed saint, but these are ideals that I still strive to achieve as an adult. I was taught that there are a lot of different types of people and cultures all over the world, that we should always be considerate to our environment, and that no matter how much we learn, there is always something else fascinating to discover around the corner that continually makes us a richer, well-rounded person.

Here’s the Girl Scout Promise:

On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

And the Girl Scout Law:

I will do my best to be
Honest and Fair,
Friendly and Helpful,
Considerate and Caring,
Courageous and Strong, and
Responsible for what I say and do,
And to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.

It’s only about living in a positive manner and the fact that such a great organization would be attacked by such negativity makes me very sad.

Apologies for the long post, but I obviously feel very strongly about this. And I will proudly continue to buy cookies every year!

I loved your piece on working with Neighborhood Councils. I agree that the arts community could benefit greatly by connecting with NCs and vice versa. Please call me so we can talk more about how we can help make those connections happen! I recently connected with Make Music LA folks who are reaching out to NCs to create music in neighborhoods!

bhk

For the projects that did speak to you, how did they appeal to you? What have been some “boosts” that compelled you to press “Donate”?

Also, it has a lot to do with the time of year. Early summer, and sometimes fall, are usually good times to ask me for money. Novemberish-tax time, not so much. And that just differs from person to person and when they have the ability (schedule wise) to donate.

I saw an RSC production in 2001 that I really liked… but it was so long ago now that I don’t recall the specifics.

I do enjoy the film version with Ben Kingsley as Feste, but again it’s been a few years since I’ve seen it.

And as a teenager, I played Orsino in a production that I’ll always remember fondly.

But it’s hard for me to pick out a particular live production that I feel really captures the fullness of the play. I guess I’m still waiting.

I haven’t seen She’s the Man so I don’t know where it went wrong, but I wasn’t inherently opposed to the idea. Hey, if it got any teenagers interested in reading 12th Night, I’m all for it.

It starts with death, but I’ve never felt the danger of Viola’s position . Maybe if we saw more of the port where she lands, maybe if there was any visual context placed into that first scene. Has anyone seen a Twelfth Night that did that?

And I think that an examination of the sadness that runs through life, interwoven with even the most joyous of occasions, is always relevant. Exploration of the tenuousness and beauty of the human condition: it’s what theatre is for.

I pondered this question while typing the word “relevant,” but couldn’t afford any further tangents in one article. I’m glad you brought up this question.

By “relevant,”I personally mean that the story (not necessarily the plot) is in the hearts and minds of people. In 2000 there were multiple productions of Hamlet all across the country, MacBeth & Julius Caesar in the late Bush era and we’ve discussed the rash of Measure For Measures lately. Those trends imply a communal need to explore certain stories, character traits, themes.

I ran into Mike McShane, who played Sir John for a couple of nights when Gregory Itzin wasn’t available, and he brought to my attention more of Sir John’s story, specifically his relationship with Olivia. What IS the theme of Twelfth Night? That may be why I never fully enjoyed it, because I never actually got a sense of the theme or meaning behind any of the merriment. Thinking further about talking to McShane, it could be deceit and when does joshing go too far? Maybe, but I would love to hear from others.

I didn’t see Noises Off, but I don’t think it will ever grow old for the theatre-making and theatre-going population: theatre-makers like to laugh at their own antics and theatre-goers like to feel they get a peek behind the scenes. Just like seeing Twelfth Night with excellent actors for an audience of classical theatre-lovers maybe doesn’t need relevance, if we are ever to attract the general public back to our seats, we should figure out What is Relevance and Is it Always Necessary?

Must a play, to be relevant today, feature current themes? Direct links or indirect parallels to current events? Or is it enough that the play itself is on the minds of people.

The crucible was relevant when written, and again in the last decade when citizens everywhere were being denied their rights in the terrorist witch hunt.

But what about Noises Off? A Noise Within produced it a while back and it was huge hit because it’s good material. They’re even bringing it back later this year because it was so successful. Despite the humor, is this play not relevant? Or is it now relevant that it’s on people’s minds and they think fondly upon it?

Is pizza relevant because I realize I’m hungry and I want pizza?

Maybe 12th Night is relevant because — within the classics-loving niche community of Antaeus’ company and audience — it was time for 12th Night.

I think you are so right to write a list of ways people should think about the tweeting process, as there is no ‘etiquette’ at the moment which leads to confusion and unhelpful tweets!

I don’t think anyone – not even the supporters of these experiments – believes that live-tweeting, or integrating social media interaction into the design of a play, is for everyone or for all plays. Personally, I dislike any design when it is just the default or just because it’s cool, and here I mainly reference projection design. I’m not sure live-tweeting will necessarily work during a main-stage show at Antaeus vs. ClassicsFest, which to my mind is the ideal situation for experiments in audience development. How are we to know without trying and discussing?

There is also an incredible power to this idea which has not been broached yet. I’ve used it for breaking the cherry of people who have ideas for their neighborhoods but don’t know how to get involved. I frequently live-tweet town halls and encourage community stakeholders to use a hashtag or reply to involve themselves in the process. I’ve been invited to do so at city events.

The power of this is that I reach people who obviously are interested, because they are following these political accounts, but don’t have access to or understand the process, which at best is convoluted and discouraging in the City of LA, but with such an immediate and easy access, opens doors to the community.

That is why I encourage and participate in these experiments for live theatre. We ‘ve lost the doorway IN a theater for many who don’t work in the industry. If we can reach potential audience through their friends or arts organizations tweeting about their experience as an invitation, we can break people’s theater cherries as well. And that is one immense step in the fight to show vitality and arts as a necessity in life.

It wasn’t live.

About 90% of the tweeting was scheduled ahead of time, done in real time the night before during a dress rehearsal and programmed to pop up at the right moments during the performance. It allowed me to run the lights & sound during the actual performance without distraction, but it also allowed me to interact with other people without missing details on the stage worth tweeting. So the remaining 10% of those tweets were live, interactive and in the moment.

Of course, describing it as “details on the stage worth tweeting” isn’t exactly right either. Almost every tweet was designed to provide context or explain details as opposed to merely describing what was happening onstage at any given moment. Because of the show’s setting–Belfast–and the situations in the story, it was helpful to provide context such as explaining slang terms or specific incidents referred to but not explained in the dialogue.

This allowed people who hadn’t seen the show yet to get an idea of what it was like and what it was about without spoiling what was happening in the story itself. It also allowed the audiences to go back and read through later at their leisure and get detail that wasn’t in the program or the script itself. It worked both ways, and our audiences were quite happy with the experiment. A few people from outside the theatre interacted with me during the performance, and they came to see the show at the next performances, making a point to stop and say hello.

And you’re exactly right. “Pop-Up Video” and DVD commentaries were my models for this.

It’s so simple, any theatre could do this. And thanks to things like Storify.com, it’s easy to archive such things and make them available on the theatre’s website for future reference. Do this at an early (or preview) performance, then post it to your website. (It’s better than relying on Twitter to archive, as tweets and tags can vanish after a few days unless you use something like TwapperKeeper for archiving.) Have a dramaturg or literary manager create the experience ahead of time and then be on hand to interact live, easy as that.

Better yet, it sparks conversation both online and in real life outside the performance itself, even days later.

Most audience-tweeted shows sound like DVD commentaries where the director describes exactly what you’re seeing, then describes some more, then praises the actors or the designers. I read them, I don’t feel any desire to see the show in question.

I was amused to see a gap in the middle of the #cf11 live-tweeting the other night, followed by apologies after minutes of silence, because they were fully engaged with what was happening onstage.

That is the power of live theatre done well.