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Back in my college theater days, I remember one of the teachers remarking that what sets theater apart from other types of events is the audience. A sporting event with no one watching still counts for the rankings and records. A play without an audience might as well be a dress rehearsal.
Well, sporting events have been scheduled without fans, and my old college is holding performances without audiences. Though I guess they still count for class credit.
Pennsylvania’s Swarthmore College is going even further: Their production of Sophocles’ “The Women of Trachis,” a rarely-performed Greek tragedy, was interrupted by the pandemic. It’s been transformed into a one-night only automated performance featuring video clips of the actors (each sheltering in place at home), collected by TikTok and iMovie and assembled by the director to be shown in an empty theater.
No one will ever see this play, and no actors are coming either. But the show will go on.
As director Michal Zadara puts it, “It’s theater for nobody.” It’s kind of mind-bending in the way it makes you think about the very nature of performing arts and stories — and more, the kind of story it is.
No one on stage.
No one in the audience.
A tragedy that no one will see.
—Kelson Vibber, 2020-04-24
Previous: Where Everyone Wears a Mask
Adapted from two blog posts at K-Squared Ramblings: