The Young-Howze Theater Journal

[The Young-Howze Theater Journal]

The Glittery Nightmare: Or How Jessica Ryan Created A Digital Space Within A Live Stream Part 2

@lolstlivestream @jessicaryannyla

By RnD

We have two big issues with live stream theatre and we’ve given them names: Invisible Balcony and Camera Pointed At Stage (CPAS). The Invisible Balcony is a way that we describe a camera in the rafters or in the back row that is situated as if you were in the audience. It is a substitute for your warm body sitting in the theatre. CPAS is worse than that and Dana’s mortal enemy. It is when a camera is positioned somewhere, anywhere in the theatre and hopefully pointed at the action. We’ve made amends with the Invisible Balcony. Theaters are just doing the best they can with what they have and, in many instances, they have checked to make sure that sight lines are clear and the show looks good. When we see CPAS we do the show the honor of not reviewing it. We don’t want one faulty sightline to keep a great show from getting the attention and in-depth critique that it deserves. Each of these comes from the idea that the camera is a surrogate for the audience in the physical space. What would be best is for the venue to create a digital venue for the digital audience. One that doesn’t make the audience feel disconnected or alienated. Where they feel like they have a digital seat and a digital proscenium crafted just for them. 

These digital seats have not made it into every theater. In fact, as we have mentioned before union rules and money have really hampered the effort to make all theatre accessible by streaming. Because of this, we used to feel like we were debating the validity of digital theatre. However sometime last year we realized it was an inevitability. Digital forms of theatre making were here and evolving and everyone had better get used to it. We’d like to say Broadway heard us and that’s why The League of Live Stream Theater (LOLST) was formed. However, the same inevitability we felt must have been rippling through the entire theatre industry. Which is how we found ourselves logging in to see Second Stage Theater’s production of “Between Riverside and Crazy” by Stephen Adly Guirgus streamed via the League Of Live Stream Theater. 

We were well aware that the technology existed to live stream. Our entire blog is witness to this fact. And many theaters in New York had invited us to review their live streams in the past. Some of the theaters were not even a few miles from Broadway itself. Even though Broadway is part of theatre as we know it, it has always been different. Bigger, more expensive, more glittery. We went in with the mindset that when Broadway started doing digital it might be the new “gold standard” that we would all have to live by, even if it was prohibitive to do so. We didn’t want the digital theatre canon to be dictated by people who were four years (or more) late to the game. Nor did we want Broadway hampering the creative and grassroots efforts of makers of digital theatre thus far. 

We say all that to say that we were surely relieved when we met our new BFFs LOLST. This live stream was unlike any live stream we had seen before or anywhere in digital theatre. We have similar attempts by projects that were recorded and then edited for on-demand space. And we have seen digital spaces created for digitally native work. However, Jessica Ryan and her team had to paint a digital picture using cameras like a paintbrush in real-time.

This isn’t exactly an immersive experience because there was no interaction between the audience and performers. Yet we felt like we were immersed in a theatre space. It’s as if instead of a live stream of a show they were creating a digital show at the same time a Broadway show just happened to be playing. We didn’t feel like we were getting the in-person audience’s leftovers. This was our reserved seat at our table and we were welcome to enjoy it. We are loath to say that you have to see it to believe it because at $68 a ticket ($80 with fees) this might be a difficult expense and we get that. However, we got to see in real-time the experience that was crafted just for us. 

We can’t emphasize enough that this wasn’t a camera pointed at the stage allowing us to see the show as it was happening. These were several cameras working together to create an almost 3D experience. What we felt was a phenomenon we’re calling creating a “Digital Space Within a Live Stream” (trademark pending). What we mean by that is that the space we were in was completely made “in-camera”. Even though we were watching the same play as the in-person audience, they were not experiencing the same show we were. The world we were in during the show was completely made by Jess through the cameras thus making it digitally native. We completely understand that some of our digital artist friends are going to take issue with what we just said but we stand by it. We just know that with experimentation there could be more creative uses for this technology. 

However, technology, while wonderful isn’t the most crucial part of this concept. We now have to talk about money. We don’t like talking about money but, as anyone in digital theatre knows, the costs can be low but they will never be zero. Jess has been doing this for over a decade and is not only an expert in the field but is the go-to person when you want to live stream an event of this caliber. That makes her fee expensive. Also, the camera equipment that she describes in part one is, according to our research, $300 for used knock-offs of this particular style of camera. We already know that these were top-of-the-line and there were at least seven of them used, Add to that a computerized control board, a skilled person running the board, and a team making sure that the live stream goes as planned and the costs only grow exponentially. We are not going to recommend every digital artist invest in any of this. As we said Broadway be extra.

But most of the things crucial to creating a Digital Space Within A Live Stream cost little to no money. We’ll let Jess explain it herself with a quote from our interview with her.

“The pressure and expectation of Broadway is immense. There is no phoning this in, period. Full stop. It’s not a thing. We have to be at the best [at] our game and part of being at the best of our game is checking all of those details you just mentioned right? So like that’s certainly part of it. Between each of our rehearsals, I probably spend about eight hours working on video. Piece by piece I look at it on my computer, I look at it on my television because you’re playing with brightness…We can never get it perfect for everything but the really important part, in my opinion, of the ‘wow you caught that’ it’s not the only thing to make sure you like the framing of everything of every shot not only is it to make sure you like the timing of when every cue is called throughout the show but to make sure that you’re double checking your point on-screen, on mobile, on TV. That things are looking the way they do when you’re in the theater.”-Jess

Also, Oren Michels explained to us that the cameras were installed weeks ahead of the live stream and a test run was done two or more weeks before. The simple act of bringing the cameras into the space, poring over the video putting yourself in the shoes of the digital audience that will be seeing it on their couches, and testing your stream before the audience comes requires no special equipment or extra investment besides forethought and time. 

Now, are we saying “Between Riverside and Crazy” was a one hundred percent perfect show? By no means. If that were the case we need to retire right now. We have a list of ten standards to make a great digital theatre show. This show fulfilled eight of them. (Eventually, we’ll teach a workshop explaining all of them). The two that were missing were the lack of audience interaction and the lack of readily available tech support. The first is easily remedied. LOLST could have a one-night live tweet during a live stream with interaction from their Twitter or other social media. That would allow the digital audience to interact with one another and emotionally respond to the show. Even more it would mean LOLST would get combined feedback and marketing for the next show or stream. Even if it was only for one night it would allow us to immediately give everyone a round of applause and express how we felt about the show. (Trust us this would be great marketing. Dana is a social media consultant.) If one is bringing a digital audience to a virtual venue then it just makes sense that they have a virtual lobby to talk in.

Let us be clear with the second thing: there were options for troubleshooting. However, a live person that can be reached almost immediately is paramount to a good digital theatre experience. Consider them your digital house manager ready to answer audience questions and step in as needed. This is a position that one would usually find in a digitally native where both the artists, technicians, and audience are online. We have not seen it during a live stream. Since this piece was creating a digitally native space in a live stream it would place them in a position to set a standard for companies everywhere that want to follow in their footsteps. 

So in conclusion (because we’re back in college) there are only a few more days to see this y’all. We honestly want you to see it. Don’t pay full price. Get ten or more of your closest friends and have a party. Even if you disagree with everything that we’ve said here we just want to talk about it. Not just us but our new friends Jess and LOLST want to hear from you. Digital theatre creators are a small tribe and when we find kindred spirits we need to connect with them. LOLST and Jess are kindred spirits. You can take our word for it.

“I hope that we can provide tremendous value. Because of our weird little skill sets, we can provide value to the theatre community. But we also need to hear from you all like: What do you need from us? What are you seeing? What’s been successful? What do you want to do next that’s really going to drive your mission forward? How can we help? Like we need to hear from people as much as I’m sure they hope to hear from us. There’s no experts here. There’s all of us. We’re working together to make this happen. I feel very proud of having created this little entity. This little vehicle as we call it in finance, that has this special purpose of facilitating a mission that’s not-for-profit theaters but we can’t do it in isolation. We need to do it in collaboration with everybody and we hope to hear from them.”-Jim

[The Young-Howze Theater Journal]

Hey Jacques Ze Whipper fans! If you can see Jacques in person then see him and Ses digitally. Show info here.

[The Young-Howze Theater Journal]

Review 520: Edward and Christine

Written By: Kenneth Koch

Performed By: Tia Shearer

In Collaboration With: Deb Sivigny and Anna Lathorp

http://tinyurl.com/Edward-and-Christine

We have listened to our readers who have to use accessibility software to read text or have trouble reading small print. In addition to reading our reviews on Instagram at @rndyounghowze you can read them on plain text on our blog.

We have started to live by the motto, “Wherever you can park your butt you can watch a great show.” We say this because we have seen people make great works of theatre wherever they can set up a camera and put their mugs in front of it. There is something punk and subversive about putting on a show in your very own home to an audience of faces from across the universe. So enter Tia Shearer who has parked her bum in front of a camera and, with the help of partners in crime Deb Sivigny and Anna Lathrop, has decided to perform a 90-minute poetic-epic mind explosion of a play by Kenneth Koch using only her hands and stuff from around her house to embody the 100+ characters of the piece. Yes, it is just as chaotic as it sounds but Shearer, Sivigny, and Lathrop seem ready to fill the order that Koch’s brand of random lays out for them.

When you read the words “100+ characters” you think two things: “Dear Goddess why!?!” and “Dear Goddess how!?!” Shearer used a mixture of props, costumes, and hand gestures to differentiate between characters. A mustache, batteries with bunny ears, pieces of fabric, and a Donkey Kong Stuffie all become part of the “dramatis personae”. The energy gets so chaotic that half of the fun of the show is watching Shearer break character as she must desperately find a prop that she threw off camera in one scene that she needs for the second act. We love that, no matter how seriously Shearer takes her craft she keeps the atmosphere laid back by having a chuckle at herself.

Koch’s script is very dense. It has all the chaos and beauty of a book of poetry. In our opinion, its greatest strength is also its greatest challenge for the audience. Its language is lofty and meaningful but fleeting so it’s hard to hold onto. The time line is as pervasive, erratic, and ephemeral as memory itself which is exactly what Koch was trying to portray. Yet that means the audience is constantly in a lurch. They are constantly trying to follow one thread and only come up with frayed edges as a new ball of yarn rolls into view. Koch doesn’t tie up loose ends or even care if plot lines get unraveled. This is not a literal interpretation this is a story told in the same way that important parts of our lives are remembered: fragmented, fractured, and fleeting.

When you look up these two artists they don’t immediately look like a match made in heaven. Sivigny is a designer that has done everything from production design to dance to weddings. Lathrop is a “transdisciplinary” designer whose website boasts everything from “futures design” to an encyclopedic list of “punk technology” (which Ricky immediately bookmarked). You can see a little bit of each of their essence in the design and performance of this piece. Digital home performances already have a “punk DIY” feel to them but Lathrop certainly puts her spin on it. Sivigny’s work looks like she can make whole worlds appear out of the nothingness of the stage. When one marries the two of these styles together one gets a home-brewed and slow-cooked design that makes sleek and efficient use of the small space but also a subversive and chaotic air to the whole proceedings. Though it looks mad there be method in it.

We almost wish that every audience member had a copy of the script with them as they were watching the play. A playscript is a foundation for a performance, a blueprint for a house. Koch’s verses of word shrapnel give a very fractured framework of a story. We don’t know where the story is going. We barely know where it started. The bulk of Shearer’s performance seems to be aimed at making a stable brick house of performance off of that foundation. There were moments when we were fully welcomed into the house and got to walk inside then there were other times we felt like we stepped through the kitchen door and found ourselves falling off the third-story balcony. Shearer is so great at performing the characters and telling the story we feel like it’s our fault for making the wrong turns.

[The Young-Howze Theater Journal]

cagetheatrecompany asked:

Hello! My name is Michael Hagins, and I recently created a Shakespearean version of The Princess Bride called As You Wish It. I was wondering if you'd be interested in watching it, and maybe reviewing it if you enjoy it. We have a chance at a possible live encore performance and any press would help. Thanks for any consideration!

Hi! We always forget to check notes here (our bad). Email us with information rndyounghowze@gmail.com

[The Young-Howze Theater Journal]

Announcing The Young-Howze Theatre Journal “Couch To Stage” Project

All the world’s a stage right? That’s the theory. For us the last 3 years our stage has been our house. Being digital theatre critics has changed our lives in amazing ways. It’s our home and we wouldn’t change a thing about our journey thus far. However, we haven’t seen a show in person since 2019. We realize we want to change that. That’s why we’re starting a new project called “Couch To Stage”

If you read our Pancakes and Waffles post you understand what we mean when we say that we’re hungry for some pancakes. The digital vs in-person question should always be about preference and specific access needs. For us, it was never a choice to start reviewing digital theatre. In round one 2020 it was all we had. But as small reopenings happened in 2021 we were still uncomfortable being in such a tight space with people we didn’t know. In 2022 when we were finally able to go out on a great adventure to Spain on a Disney Cruise (judge us if you want. We know the kind of geeks we are) we caught COVID which caused one of Dana’s many autoimmune diseases to flair, which caused their hair to fall out. That gave us a bit of pause to not rush back into any more big events. We always knew there would be shows and opportunities so interesting that we would want to venture out but our health has just now gotten to a place where we can choose to go safely. This is where “Couch To Stage” was born.

In “Couch to Stage” those two words “choice” and “safety” are key. Digital Theatre was thrust upon us and we chose to make it our home. It will always be our home and we’ve never found a family like the one we found among our digital/indie theatre friends. But no relationship flourishes without choice. We want to venture out to great in-person theatre that makes us feel just as welcome and safe and choose to go back home to digital theatre at the end of the day. We owe it to ourselves to try as much theatre as possible and hone our skills in every context possible.

We also want to think outside of the traditional theatre box. Digital theatre can be immersive and experimental. We want experiences that mirror those moments. We want to mess with the question: what is theatre? Because every time someone says “theatre” they’re talking about these brick-and-mortar buildings that have very defined rules and expectations. It’s frustrating to us because we can’t have true discussions about digital theatre without running smack dab into rigid definitions of what a show is or what the industry is. So why not throw some more wrenches into the works? Why not expand the definition and see where it takes us? Why not stretch it until it breaks and then break it some more to find these truly “to die for” experiences that performers are creating for audiences everywhere? There will be some…surprises in addition to the normal theatre fare. With every event we plan to attend, we’ve asked ourselves “What feels theatrical without feeling ordinary?”. 

So stay tuned. The first round of “Couch to Stage” is all centered around Dana’s birthday because they’re vain. However, this is going to become a reoccurrence about 4 times a year or whenever the hell we feel like it. We can’t wait to share our adventures with you!

[The Young-Howze Theater Journal]

The Young-Howze Theatre Awards 2023 Winners

Our Blessing To You

I don’t just wish you success. I will it upon you like a blessing you never knew you needed. We don’t just want you to do well we want you to be the greatest you’ve ever been and to continue on a journey of ever-growing greatness. We need you to become the artist you’d always dreamed you could be. Your success is our success. When you become a household name we show up in your Google search results. When people interview you they learn you won an award from us. Selfishly we want the best for you and more. Unselfishly, you deserve it. We see you working hard every day working towards your dreams and goals. You put in the 9-5 then the 5-9. You work twice as hard as the average person and people might still look down on your art. We don’t. We think your art is amazing and getting better all the time. If this is what you create now we can’t wait to see what your future holds. More simply put: we are very proud of you. Please keep going.

Solo Awards

“All By Myself” Award For Solo Performer Of The Year

Megan Quick in “And Toto Too”

“Flying Solo” For Solo Show Of The Year

“Book of Sirens” by ProEnglish Theatre

"Campfire Award” For Storyteller of The Year

Daniel Kinch in “Story of the Falling Don”

Mind-Blowing Awards

“Mind-Blowing Stage” For Stage Writing Of The Year

“Monsters of The American Cinema” by Christian St. Croix

“Lavender Men” by Roger Q. Mason

“Mind-Blowing Shortie” For Short Form Writing Of The Year 

“By The Way” by Lisa Rosetta Strum

“Mind-Blowing Devising” For Devised Production Of The Year 

“Posthumous” by Phoenix Tears Productions 

Artists Of The Year

“Extensions” For Movement Artist Of The Year

Lena Adele Wolfe and Clemence Debaig for “Discordance”

“Action” Award For Film Director Of The Year

Olivier Sagne in “Lovena”

“Dress Up” Award For Costume Designer Of The Year

X Hill in “The Cymbeline Project”

“Mix It Up” Award For Sound Designer Of The Year

Leonie Bell in “Arrow Of Time”

“Maestro Award” For Outstanding Musical Composition, Arrangement, Or Orchestration

Maurice Soque Jr. and Brendan A. Bradley for Original Arrangement “Non Player Character”

Director Of The Year

Taylor Reynolds for  “La Race”

Short Form Director Of The Year

Zhailon Levingston and Tracy Conyer Lee for “Fire This Time Festival 22”

Creative Of The Year 

Christian St. Croix 

BIPOC Hero Award

Nataki Garrett 

“Magician” Award For Press Contact Of The Year

Emily Owens

Shows/Festivals Of The Year

Festival Of The Year

Fire This Time Festival 2022

“You Oughta Be In Pictures” For Film Of The Year

“Undine” By Stefanie Janssen and Sjaron Minailo

“Billy Bard” For Digital Shakespeare Production Of The Year

“Rome-Oh No They Didn’t” By Punchline Loading

Show Of The Year

“The Cymbeline Project” OSF Ashland

“La Race” By Bleu Beckford-Burell

“360” Award For VR Show of The Year

“Queerskins” Ark” By Illya Szilak at Quills Fest

“Free Fall” Award For Immersive Production Of The Year

“POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness” By CirqueSaw

"Grace Notes Award” For Musical Production Of The Year

“The Last Five Years” Deaf Austin Theatre and Ground Floor Theatre

“Can You Hear Me Now” For Audio Production Of The Year

“Arrow Of Time” By Allyson Dwyer

Performers Of The Year

“More Than Merely Players” Award For Outstanding Dramatic Performer Of The Year

Krissy Lemon in “The Last Five Years”

Ben Holbrook in “Arrow Of Time”

“Fools These Mortals Be” Award For Outstanding Comedic Performer

Monique “Momo” Holt For “The Cymbeline Project"

Stacey Sargeant in “La Race”

“Capture” Award For VR Performer Of The Year

Brendan A. Bradley in “Non-Player Character”

[The Young-Howze Theater Journal]

Young Howze Theatre Awards 2023 Nominees

Our Award Show is March 26 at 5PM EST. If you see your name here please email us at rndyounghowze@gmail.com You can support our work by donating on Venmo @rndyounghowze. We are still looking for ASL interpreters! If you know of any service that could help please let us know!

Solo Awards

“All By Myself Award” For Solo Performer Of The Year

Megan Quick in “And Toto Too”

Anabell Ramirez in “Book of Sirens” 

Timothy Mooney in “Man Cave” 

“Flying Solo” For Solo Show Of The Year

“And Toto Too” by Megan Quick 

“Book of Sirens” by Pro English Theatre

“Man Cave” by Timothy Mooney 

 “Good Adoptee” by Suzanne Bachner

“Campfire Award” For Storyteller of The Year

Daniel Kinch in “Story of the Falling Don”

Erika Eileen Wade in “Da Rhythm Da Blues”

Mina Liccione in “Growing Up Ringside”

Mind-Blowing Awards

“Mind-Blowing Stage” For Stage Writing Of The Year

“Monsters of American Cinema” by Christian St. Croix

“La Race” by Bleu Beckford-Burell 

“Sherlock Holmes Valley Of Fear” by Nick Lane

“Lavender Men” by Roger Q Mason

“Whickams Christmas at Pemberley” by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon

“Mind-Blowing Shortie” For Short Form Writing Of The Year 

“Wookiee in The Wilderness” by Marcus Scott

“By The Way” by Lisa Rosetta Strum

“Faulty Lock” by AJ Maryn 

“Waterlillies” by Christine Hillary Lee

“Mind-Blowing Devising” For Devised Production Of The Year 

“From Number to Name”

“Posthumous”

“Afterlife Job Fair”

“Artemisias Intent”

Artists Of The Year

“Extensions” For Movement Artist Of The Year

Mita Ghosal for “Selected Fabrics”

Alicia Diaz for “Puerto Rico y Richmond”

Lena Adele Wolf and Clemence Debaig for “Discordance”

“Action” Award For Film Director Of The Year

Thomas Cote in “Memories of Over Development”

Yannis Sainte-Rose in “Tuff Guy”

Olivier Sagne in “Lovena”

Iida Valme in “Mirage”

“Dress Up” Award For Costume Designer Of The Year

Wendell Carmichael in  “Lavender Men”

X Hill in “Cymbeline Project”

Gail Russell “Wickhams: Christmas At Pemberley” 

“Mix It Up” Award For Sound Designer Of The Year

Adrian Bridges in “Artemesia’s Intent”

Stepy Kamei in “One Bad Day”

Leonie Bell in “Arrow Of Time”

“Maestro Award” For Outstanding Musical Composition

Diana Oh for “The Cymbeline Project” 

Nathan Leigh for “POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness”

Maurice Soque Jr. for “Non Player Character” 

Director Of The Year

Taylor Reynolds in “La Race”

Lisa Scheps and Brian Cheslik in “Last Five Years”

Alex Borovenskiy in “Book Of Sirens” 

Nick Lane “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide”

Short Form Director Of The Year

Destiny Whitaker in “All Out Of Spoons”

Zhailon Levingston and Tracy Conyer Lee in “Fire This Time Festival 22”

Cayle Komara in “Waterlillies”

Creative Of The Year 

Christian St. Croix

Scarlett Kim

Roger Q. Mason

BIPOC Hero Award

TBA

“Magician” Award For Press Contact Of The Year

TBA

Shows/Festivals Of The Year

Festival Of The Year

“Fire This Time Festival”

“Frigid Fest”

“Talking It Out Fest”

“You Oughta Be In Pictures” For Film Of The Year

“Memories of Over Development” 

“Undine”

“Lovena”

“Billy Bard” For Digital Shakespeare Production Of The Year

“Rome-Oh No They Didn’t” 

“Romeo and Juliet” by Sister Shakes

“Breakneck Romeo and Juliet”

Show Of The Year

“Lavender Men”

“The Cymbeline Project”

“La Race”

“POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness”

“360” Award For VR Show of The Year

“Queerskins” Ark”

“Anakwad”

“Non Player Character”

“Discordance”

“Free Fall” Award For Immersive Production Of The Year

“Section 230”

“Posthumous”

“POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness”

“Afterlife Job Fair”

"Grace Notes Award” For Musical Production Of The Year

“Non Player Character”

“Lizard Boy”

“The Last Five Years”

“Can You Hear Me Now” For Audio Production Of The Year

“You’ve Reached Justin” By Christian St. Croix

“One Bad Day” By Stepy Kamei 

“Arrow Of Time” By Allyson Dwyer

Performers Of The Year

“More Than Merely Players” Award For Outstanding Dramatic Performer Of The Year

Krissy Lemon in “The Last Five Years"   

Mariah Freda in "Artemesia’s Intent" 

Susannah Perkins in "Arrow Of Time”

Ben Holbrook in “Arrow Of Time" 

Blake Kubena in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" 

"Fools These Mortals Be” Award For Outstanding Comedic Performer

Imani Waweru in “Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley”

Monique “Momo” Holt in “The Cymbeline Project”

Cristofer Jean in “The Cymbeline Project”

Stacey Sargeant in “La Race”

Melanie Leon in “Afterlife Job Fair”

“Capture” Award For VR Performer Of The Year

Debbie Deer in “VR Christmas Carol” 

Brendan Bradley in “Non-Player Character”

Lena Adele Wolf in “Discordance” 

[The Young-Howze Theater Journal]

8 Quotes About Love For Our 8 Year Anniversary And Valentine’s Day

Eight years ago two stupid people chose to elope and move their honeymoon forward to a cheaper time. So then we just needed to have a super scaled-back elopement in town the weekend before. The weekend before was February 14th. So we called up the church to book the time and were shocked when the Pastor got very excited.

“How great of you to get married on Valentine’s Day!”

We covered the receiver with our hands and looked at each other in shock.

“Holy f**k!”

You see the slight problem is that we hate Valentine’s Day. We have always hated Valentine’s Day. We aren’t very romantic people and that kind of lovey-dovey BS just makes us sick. The only great thing about the holiday for us is that on the 15th chocolate hearts are 50% off. That’s why when we were now faced with eloping on our least favorite holiday we needed to come up with some quotes that reflected us and our journey.  So here are 8 of our favorite love quotes two of which were featured in our wedding. Have fun deciding which ones they are. 

1. “A good relationship should be boring” –Dana
2. “Love is the worst thing to happen to two or more people.” –Dana 
3. “Getting married for love is stupid.” –Dana
4. Love is suspicious, love is needy, love is fearful, love is greedy. My friends, there is no great love without great jealousy.“ — Bender, Futurama 
5. "Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.” –Mr. Rogers
6. “We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.” – Unknown
7. “I think we love each other. As much as two people such as ourselves are capable of that emotion.” –Xanatos, Gargoyles
8. “Marriage is a choice. It’s a choice that you make every day. Because you don’t do it because it’s easy you do it because you believe in it.” –Michelle Obama

Our wedding was great but it was the biggest failed elopement ever with Ricky’s family hopping into a van and driving to New Jersey. We remember it somewhat fondly but what we remember more is that we chose to be with each other because we knew that we couldn’t think of a future without the other person in it. We hope that everyone has a wonderful Valentine’s Day and remembers the “reason for the season” which is half-priced chocolate hearts.

[The Young-Howze Theater Journal]

Physical Assault, Vomit in the Aisles, Stalking in the Streets: Why Audience Misbehavior Has Gotten Out of Hand

Ushers and other front of house theatre staff share their horror stories, as Playbill investigates why bad audience behavior is on the rise.

Playbill

[The Young-Howze Theater Journal]

The Big Glittery Nightmare: Or How We Learned to Love The League Of Live Stream Theater Part One

By: RnD

This story started with a mass panic over $68 (almost $80 with fees) live stream tickets and a real fear that the digital theatre world as we knew it was no more.

Hi. We’re Ricky and Dana, the self-appointed champions of digital theatre. If in-person theatre is a small town digital theatre is a culdesac. You either know everyone or are shocked when you find someone new because you have about thirty friends in common on Facebook. Suffice it to say that when news that LOLST was going to stream “Between Riverside And Crazy” at Second Stage our digital artist friends were worried and we won’t deny that we were too. With union rules and lack of funding making it impossible (or at least impractical) for Broadway Theaters to live-stream their shows, the digital theatre community had worked without much interference from the Great White Way.

What we critics had encountered though were villains we like to call “Flag Planters”. It’s a term we call colonizing organizations that like to declare their very normal live stream the “first, the best, or the only”. A Broadway organization stepping into the game, putting up a live stream, and declaring itself the standard of digital theatre, that all other art was less than, was a glittery nightmare version of what we had seen before.

We were not going to stand for it! We reached out to LOLST and set up an interview with co-founder Oren Michels. Michels, former executive director of The Groundlings and Broadway Producer. He was abroad at the time and asked if we would like to speak with xo-founder Jim Augustine and another person involved with the production so we can write a feature. It’s very strange if they were big and ignored the rest of the digital theatre community to invite us even more into their world. Nevertheless, we put on our best suits of armor and geared up for the fight of our lives. We got ourselves ready, got on the Zoom call with Jim and Jessica Ryan, and…

…We were instantly deflated when Jess, the Broadcast Manager, entered the chat and was immediately excited to see us. Turns out we have three mutuals and she was just looking at our reviews wondering how we hadn’t met. If we hadn’t found her through this interview we would have bumped into each other at some point. Then Jim Augustine, Co-Founder of LOLST entered the room and we were again very surprised. When you look at Jim’s headshot you mainly get a Wall Street vibe. Then he talks and we realize the look is mainly for shareholders. In reality, he is a big theatre kid who slid into the world of finance and has been working to finance shows on Broadway for a while now. Soon we realized that we were addressing two fellow travelers in the land of digital theatre and we were greeting them with swords drawn…awkward… They were more like us, and y’all, than we could have imagined.

They were exactly like us and people in the digital theatre community. In fact, they traded off saying things that made either one of us very excited about the “Between Riverside and Crazy” live stream. One of the things that made Ricky feel all warm and fuzzy inside was contracts! Do you want to know how they came up with the $68 price tag for a digital ticket? Contracts and negotiations!

“The League of Live Stream Theatre supports these productions its aim is to support a theatre in extending its mission but not to dictate its business practices.” Jim said, “Second Stage is obviously running a theater from Broadway. It’s not cheap to do so. These tickets, because of the current structure of the LORT agreement, are in a zero-sum game with tickets sold in the house.”

The contract allows regional theaters to live stream their runs as long as every digital audience watching at home is a replacement for a butt that was supposed to sit in a theatre seat in the weeks prior. We raised some eyebrows at it but we understood. It means tickets aren’t gravy added to the sales they are proxies for tickets that were never sold. Jim wasn’t interested in making a killing though. Like Ricky, he’s a dyed-in-the-wool socialist.

“It’s hard,” Jim said as he sat back in his chair. “I want everything to be free. You’re basically talking to a guy, when I first got my job at Zuckerburg Media which is a for-profit company that hired me as COO, I was like ‘you need to know that I am practically a socialist. I’m a big believer in public-private partnerships and making sure that proceeds are going back into communities.’”

Ricky knew right away they could have been the same person. Then Jim talked about how LOLST also tries to send theatre to some places where you wouldn’t expect. Like did you know that when they streamed “Clydes” in January of 2022 they streamed the play out to Rikers Island free of charge? While he couldn’t tell us everywhere they planned stream to for “Between Riverside And Crazy” he was adamant that he was always looking for a way to bring prices down.

We both really connected with how passionate Jim was about making the arts accessible and we were shocked about his willingness to use tech if he had to. The biggest problem he laments is that it is hard to prove to investors that live streams are commercially viable. In the non-profit sector, it is a lot easier to prove that a live stream can extend the reach of a regional theater and send its message past its four walls.

Jessica has been live-streaming events since 2013. She was more than happy to tell us about the kind of cameras that were used in the streaming of the show. LOLST uses 7 “Pan Tilt Zoom” cameras (PTZ) that are hung from the existing lighting grid of the theater. They are like security cameras you see in the casinos but now they’re 4K, can zoom in without any graininess, work great in low light, and have computer presets that can be automated like lighting cues.

Jess let us know that these were the exact same kind of cameras that the NFL uses to broadcast their games. This perked Dana right up. If you don’t know, Dana is a football fiend (Fly Eagles!). They love to talk about how a live NFL broadcast makes you feel like you are cheering in the stands, not just sitting at home. From now on they won’t stop talking about this fact and will bring it up just as often as they rant about their hatred of Carson Wentz.

Jess is a broadcast director and not the director of the play or the stage manager. She has a lot of preparation for her job.

“My role is working with the League of Live Stream Theater and working on behalf of their production and to look at what it looks like to see “Between Riverside And Crazy Onstage”, to feel what it feels like to be an in-person audience and try to translate that with the camera work so that as Jim said when we beam this out to all of these people the hope right is to give them a little taste of that feeling of what’s so great about seeing theatre in person”

But what if something goes wrong with the cameras or they lose internet connection in the theater? She comes prepared. They have a “hold card” to let the digital audience know that a delay has happened. They also know which cameras can be subbed out for other ones. It all comes with the territory for Jessica, who knows what it’s like to battle the “chaos monster” that is the internet. Don’t worry, though, as professional as Jessica is she likes a little of what Dana calls “The ghost in the machine”.

Jessica smiles conspiratorily at this. “It’s actually kind of secretly my favorite thing when things don’t happen the way we expected it in a live show ‘cause it reminds everybody they’re watching it live and it’s a different experience than watching something on cam.”

We know exactly what she means. We love that even the most professional live streams can have some glitches and hiccups. It lets us all know that we’re not watching a film or a tv show. This is theatre and theatre is raw and live.

The thing that bowled us over the most though was a statement that Jim said halfway through the interview.

“What we’re talking about is the democratization of artistic community building and sharing right? And up until this point if you wanted to tell a story and reach mass audiences you were either doing it in very short form content like a Facebook video and there’s nothing wrong with that and there were definitely people experimenting in that form specifically. Or it was in film, television things with mass distribution, and therefore the stakes are really high and the commercialization opportunity is high and the barriers to entry are also very very high. One of the most amazing things about theatre is that its barriers to entry are low. We need to be able to tell our stories just on a porch, some plays, you know you don’t even need a proscenium. You got a porch or a street or whatever! Theatre is supposed to be just person-to-person.”

It took us back to a time when we were talking to Os Satyros out of Brazil. That was the first time that we had heard someone connecting digital theatre with giving power to the people. Now, whenever we hear it we feel an immediate connection. Now just imagine the organization that we thought was going to be the Glittery Broadway Nightmare was the one that was talking about the way streaming could change communities.

We soon got the warning that our Zoom call was about to end. Dana gave them the speech that they give everyone: Once you know us you’re one of us. You’re like family. You can reach out to us at any time and we are unbuggable. We found that we meant it this time just as fervently as we have every time we said it. We found out that in the process of looking into the eyes of a potential enemy, we found our passion for digital theatre reflected back. We asked Jim and Jess if they had any last things to say:

“The League of Livestream Theater is a passion project of people who happen to have skill sets in technology and finance but who love theatre.” Jim said “Theatre is a passion project for all of us who love theatre. No one has the answer. No one knows exactly how this is going to unfold except for what we do and make of it. I hope that people within the theatre community will see us as helpful partners down the road. I hope that we can provide tremendous value because of our weird little skillsets we can provide value to the theatre community.”

“I get up every morning thinking about how I can help make sure that more people have access to the magic that is theatre.” Jess said “It’s life-changing. It is a safe haven for so many people. It asks us to think more critically about our world. To be able to work on Between Riverside and Crazy to be able to collaborate with that creative team and have the honor of figuring out how to put the work that they’re doing every night on a screen in a way that will help someone else discover how [monumentally] amazing it is, it’s the thing that gets me up every single morning …Do whatever you have to do to try to see this incredible show because the work being done on Second Stage every night is pretty incredible.”

We couldn’t agree more. Get your tix to the livestream now before it’s too late. Look out for Part Two Tomorrow!