Bondage/Lesbian sex scene from New South Theater’s show “Woyzeck” tonight at UTC in Chattanooga, TN. It was the weirdest show I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure what it was even about. But watch this video…I mean, really?
Theater for the New South’s mission is to energize the writing, directing, and acting community of Chattanooga in an effort to see our artist’s work produced on a national level.
August 27, 2011
August 24, 2011
Countdown to August 26th (2 days!)
Here’s the rough draft of the copy that will appear in the program explaining our social media experiment. Come be a part of it!
Can theatre exist in both a physical and virtual space?
By entering into this room you are taking part in a social media experiment. We ask that you deliberately break a theatre faux pas and keep your cell phones ON throughout the performance. This means you are allowed to:
· Answer calls: If they ask where you are please tell them that you are at the UTC Studio theatre watching Woyzeck.
· Text: Again, feel free to let everyone know where you are and what you are doing.
· Live Tweet: Follow us! newsouththeater. Remember to @newsouththeater and #woyzeckcha in ALL your tweets.
· Take pictures/video: Trust us. You are going to want to remember this for forever.
· Update Facebook: Please feel free to “Like” and then tag our page (Theater for the New South) in all your posts.
Why are we allowing this? This show addresses the theme of comfort. How comfortable are we seeing things we do not normally see. How comfortable are we talking about them? Or tweeting? Taking pictures? Heaven forbid, video. We are putting the onus on you, the audience, to talk about what you are seeing, and also talk about what you see other people talking about.
We leave you with this prompt: What if the audience becomes the night’s entertainment?
~TNS
August 23, 2011
Countdown to August 26th (3 days!)
Live post. 9:18pm.
So much to do and so little time to do it. Right now we’re getting notes on our first run-thru and about to begin our second. This is an extremely tech heavy show and we’re still adding in elements in little by little. Here’s some things that are still in limbo:
- The projections are completed but currently not working.
- Music cues are randomly cutting out
- We are short one or two music cues. They are completed (we have original music btw) and en route from the DJ but not in hand
- We are short on Television Set. They are being used for/as our set.
- Our set is painted white and has about a ba-jillion scuff marks on it right now
Ugh, right? We would be concerned if we knew this was theatre and this is all a part of the process. Come Friday night and see if we’ve solved all the issues!
August 21, 2011
Countdown to August 26th (5 days!)
Live Post 6:19 PM
As we begin tech week we have this to say: AHHHHHHH!!!!
~TNS
August 18, 2011
Countdown to August 26th (8 days!)
LIVE POST
9:22 PM
Let’s throw this out there, shall we? We’re going to be trying an experiment with our audience. We feel that theatre is, or at least should be, an engagement with an audience so much so that it elicits a response.
So IF you are planning on attending WOYZECK next weekend (and we hope you are) here are some very unique rules we hope you choose to follow.
Keep your cell phones ON!
- You never know who you’ll want to text about this show, and please feel free to do so during the performance.
- Take pictures. Post them to your Facebook wall. Dare to be “that guy/girl”
- Live tweet! Feel free to @newsouththeater and use the hash-tag #woyzeckcha with your tweets
We are trying to change the definition of theatre from something that happens in a closed space to something that is more open. The best way we see that happening is to transfer theatre from the physical space into a virtual one. This is our first attempt. Come see how we are doing!
~TNS
August 17, 2011
Countdown to August 26th (9 days!)
Live post! 10:48pm…
We are currently painting our floor white and dumping glitter on an actor for a promotional video. Yay multitasking!
I am becoming increasingly excited and anxious to find out the answer to the question I asked over three months ago:
Can a show garner an audience if marketed exclusively through social media?
Come see Woyzeck everyone! August 26-28
August 16, 2011
Countdown to August 26th (10 days!)
Live blog post! 8:13 pm. 8/16/11.
On auto pilot…
What do you do at that time when you become complacent in a show? When you stop driving forward with everything and instead take a hands-off attitude towards the show because what you have is “good enough” and is “passable”?
It’s really the difference between repetition and recreation, isn’t it? At this point in the process the show has become something that is repeatable. It is something that is easily doable and can be done almost in one’s sleep.
Most shows have a tendency to get trapped in this repetition phase. They get stuck in a, what Peter Brook calls, “Deadly Theatre” phase.
Instead, the show needs to leap into a recreatible phase in which the actors can recall their actions like new each and every time. A show that is recreatible has actors who push past the notion that “passible” is the acceptable and make the strive for perfection (from curtain rise to fall) the norm.
~TNS
August 10, 2011
Countdown to August 26th (16 days!)
Up until this point in the process we’ve been working in the larger UTC Ward theatre. Beginning Sunday we transition into the smaller Studio Theatre where the show will run. The anticipation has been killing me, quite frankly, and I’m somewhat dreading the move because it means the end of the process is in sight.
For all this impending dread, I am actually very thankful that we’re looking good for this transition. It looks as if we’ll actually have the time to do a full dry tech one day early next week, which for this tech heavy show would be such a blessing.
For those of you scratching your heads reading the words, “dry tech,” I’ll explain. The term refers to a rehearsal of all the technical elements of a show minus the actors. The absence of the actors allows gives the time necessary to perfect each element and transition down to the smallest detail. It is often the first thing cut from a very busy tech-week and sadly often the most needed. A productive dry tech can be the difference between a good show and an amazingly awesome show.
I will update everyone on the status of our tech when we get closer. Cross your fingers for us.
~TNS
August 8, 2011
"Be prepared; we’re going to start touching a lot more."
— Blake Harris, Director “Woyzeck”
