Art Agenda: Open Source Theater?
T. Paul Lowry, Creative Director of New Haven Theater Company , is trying a bold new experiment with a tried-and-true Shakespearean drama: open-source theater. UBRSTAR (you-be-our-star), the latest NHTC program, is billed as an theater experience that "utilizes a troupe of stage and online actors to transform the stage to an interactive landscape."
Designed by Carrot Creative , the website includes video instructions on how to create and upload your own video "role," and offers several scripts to choose from.
Since the site’s launch in May, it has been a challenge to get non-company members to post their videos online. But another feature of UBRSTAR, the "sound-offs," is brilliant. One of the joys of live theater is the chance to see how people around you respond to the play in front of them. In today’s on-demand culture, the opportunity to get a taste of what that post-show conversation might be like, through a sound-off video, is far more authentic than a review or e-group hyperbole.
NHTC are not the only theatermakers exploring what open source means for the performing arts. http://www.opensourcetheater.org is linked to Richard Foreman’s Bridge Project, but upon a cursory review of the project it seems that videotaped performances are only being shared "openly" with people who attended a series of workshops.
Charles Mee’s (re)making project is a form of open source theater, but it has no social networking or video capability … which would allow for the participants to easily connect with one another.
Last but not least, if you don’t want to make open source theater, but you are an arts advocate, you can participate in Andrew Taylor’s open source PSA project .
More information about the creation of UBRSTAR is included in this week’s Art Agenda, originally broadcast on 88.1fm, WESU, Middletown on July 10, 2008.
Tags: Andrew Taylor, Artful Manager, Little Cities, New Haven Theater Company, Open Source Theater, Theater