We’re back, virtual, and ready to begin

Hello again.

Try as I might, I have found it absolutely impossible to begin blogging about this year’s workshop without first acknowledging last year’s workshop and the lack of blog posts about it. I think (and maybe some of you can relate to this) we feel a bit like a friend who has been avoiding the texts and emails of some of our other friends because the past year has left us with a minuscule amount of energy for socializing, and now that things are looking up we are trying to reenter civilized life as if we had not been practically living off the grid. Forgive us. (And forgive your friends too; life is hard!)

So, in our stress of completely overhauling the workshop to give it a virtual format, the blog was the thing to be given the boot. If you caught our show last year (and it is still available on YouTube if you haven’t), then you would know our sacrifice was well worth it. And now, a year later, we are back. Still virtual. But stronger, more confident, and ready to further define this emerging art form of virtual theater.

I’m excited to be working virtually.

This sentiment feels perhaps a bit taboo in the wake of the cautious optimism that in-person theater is returning. Just the other day, I got an email from a Broadway show whose tickets I had gotten refunded last March saying that I could now “reclaim my tickets” for this fall. Does no one else find it disconcerting that the theater industry is chomping at the bit to restart with pretty much the exact same generic roster of musicals as before? It’s as if they want to skirt around the pandemic and the lasting impacts it has made on society, culture, and art.

I don’t mean to go into a philosophical rant about the state of theater. What I do mean is that virtual theater isn’t going anywhere. A new form of performance was created out of necessity, and it can’t really be put back in the box. True, I’m not dying to see a production of the great American classic A Street Car Named Desire or some other similar drama performed over Zoom. But I do know that exciting theater starts with a reflection of how we live our lives, and today our lives are increasingly lived in a digital space. So, in some ways, naturalism is no longer (if it ever was) a great representation of human life. Instead, experimental theater is virtual theater, and it’s the theater of the moment. Sorry, philosophizing again!

There are three reasons why I am excited to be virtual. First, the newness of this medium has me feeling like a pioneer on the frontier of a new artistic age. Last year’s workshop was so invigorating because the chance for discovery was multiplied; we tested not only what we can do with our bodies and voices but also what is possible within our digital landscape. Second, we get to work with participants from across the country. We’ve opened the workshop up again to those beyond high school and having such a diverse mix of participants creates really dynamic performances. This year, we are coast to coast in our group. I can’t wait to see familiar faces and make new connections with those that would not have been possible without the internet. Finally, working on our screens and from our homes, we have access to way more things: lighting, film and sound editing, screens in screens, projections, puppets, etc. It really feels like the gates are open for exploration. Good thing that is exactly what we do.

The workshop begins this Saturday.

I hope Gwethalyn does not mind me revealing this to you, but she informed me yesterday that she will be in the Zoom room extra early on Saturday in an attempt to curb those first-day jitters. You would think her 15+ years as director would help alleviate the nerves, but it really is like being a kid on your first day of class. Now to confess something of my own, I am equally excited and might have to pick my outfit out the night before (something I can comfortably move in, of course).

With the beginning of the workshop, there comes a certain knowledge to those of us that have spent many years with the program. We are about to watch a group of people gain confidence in themselves as performers, discover the limits of this new medium, form an ensemble, and create work that will enrapture our audiences. Pretty impressive stuff to accomplish in only six weeks. But they always do.

See you all in cyberspace!

Isaac Sorell, Assistant Director