writing.performance

Why is it that everything interesting I find online happens after bedtime? (No, I’m not being salacious). Is it that the mental strings begin to unravel? I’ve just been reading about hypertext fiction and wondering if my virtual performance project might connect with some of the things it does– multiple pathways, layers of story, images and words nested.

Mark Bernstein: Trojan Barbie.

Nice blog posting on Trojan Barbie at the ART.  I appreciated the Chuck Mee and Seneca references!

Have just started work as a writer in a team building a virtual performance environment, as part of the Collaborations: Humanities, Arts & Technology (CHAT) Festival at UNC. We’re working with a game company (Icarus) in North Carolina to create a live/ virtual performance, where the writers create “rooms” with story-lines, avatars, etc. for a live audience to walk through. I’m very excited about this commission which mixes dramatic writing skills with learning a whole lot about game theory and structure. I love the challenge to place the audience as a “player” and to build multiple possible pathways through the room/ story/ game. It will also be interesting to see how the team of writers can create connections between the different rooms/ stories.

I’ve been thinking lately about the need to expand theatrical practice and theory to new audiences and media. (more…)

The Commonplace Blog of Jeffrey M. Jones: October 2007.

This article by Jeff Jones, first published in American Theatre in 2005, deserves wider consideration.  He considers the difference between art criticism and theatre criticism, and makes a compelling case that a concerted effort in the visual arts to bring audiences along has succeeded, whereas the professional theatre has failed dismally to introduce audiences to the kinds of critical concepts that would allow them access to (and enjoyment of) structurally experimental work.

Jones then goes on to suggest some curatorial strategies from the visual arts that might serve the theatre to reverse its shrinking audience base and overcome some of the problems that face new work.

My only quibble is with the off-hand characterization of the hoi-polloi as “little old ladies” and “grey-haired ladies”–the implication being that if even
these people can risk adventure, anyone can. Butheatre audiences have more women in them than men. And some of these women at the theatre or art gallery might be brain surgeons or literary critics or artists on a day out.

However, it’s a great piece with a provocative and smart thesis. Well worth reading!

Talkin’ Broadway Regional News & Reviews – “Trojan Barbie” – 4/15/09.

Trojan Barbie :: EDGE Boston.

Finally–a review which engages with the play on its own terms.

Nice radio review of Trojan Barbie– I did something weird linking it, so you have to click on the post heading (Familiar Themes Acted Out Uncharacteristically) to get to the article.

GB – Center Stage Archive.

Trojan Barbie on telly!

Caryl Churchill’s correspondence with Ari Roth from Theater J, who are performing her play Seven Jewish Children. Well worth reading.