It's
been a pretty exciting time on my Instagram feed in the past couple weeks as
Broadway shows have been rolling out their re-opening dates for a post-pandemic
New York City. Most of them are looking
at opening in the fall or winter 2021, and I've seen a lot of people on social
media buying tickets to their favorites.
This is the moment I've been anticipating: the moment when we start to
figure out what the world will look like after over a year in relative
isolation.
But
for those of us who can't necessarily afford to see all these new shows, what's
in it for us?
On
my podcast, "Euripides, Eumenides," the subject of streaming rights
to live performance has frequently come up in conversation. Before the pandemic, rights to record video
of a live performance such as theatre were strictly prohibited. There were only granted under either very
special circumstances, or if additional fees were paid. In my understanding, as far as the theatre is
concerned, this was to ensure that the only way to see a performance would be
to pay for it. While this wouldn't
affect smaller markets as much, this definitely would affect larger markets
such as Broadway. But also, Broadway
shows usually have something bigger in store for audiences. For example, while it would be incredible,
it's probably not likely that I'll be able to convince someone like Hugh
Jackman to appear in a musical in Sheridan, Wyoming. So, by limiting performances to be solely for
a live audience, buzz can generate, and more tickets can be sold.
However,
maybe we don't live in that world anymore.
I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that we've gotten accustomed to
preferring our live events to be streamed to our living rooms or mobile
devices. But, it could be another method
of allowing access to people who might not otherwise be able to attend
EVERYTHING.
One
of my recent guests on the podcast teaches theatre at a high school in
Wyoming. During the pandemic, he found
out rather quickly that while Broadway and most regional theaters were shut
down, playwrights and publishing houses were almost desperate to have any of
their productions staged. So they quite
willingly allowed streaming rights to be available.
Now,
it's a pretty common thing to see an option for streaming rights when
requesting rights to perform a
play. And, I hope that trend doesn't go
away. This same theatre teacher I mentioned earlier stated that streaming
rights would make professional theatre productions available to his students
who simply do not have the means to travel far out of town, much less afford to
see them live.
Another
recent guest - who is a major producer in London - opined that while
streaming performance should not be a
replacement for live theatre, it definitely should be a component of it going
forward. There are a lot of students who
formally studied theatre during the pandemic, and saw it provide them
opportunities to connect with audiences on a much grander scale than just
within their individual communities.
They now have the opportunity to change the industry for the better.
Of
the many episodes of my podcast I have done, only one of them has been in
person thus far. All the rest have been
via Zoom. But this has allowed me to
have guests from virtually anywhere, and thus to reach an audience in several
different countries. Frankly, I just
don't see much of an argument for this part of show business to "go back
to normal." I've been saying it
here and elsewhere: I'm not sure if that "normal" exists anymore. But what does exist in its place is an
opportunity to evolve, and that is honestly quite exciting.
Please
feel free to listen to my podcast "Euripides, Eumenides" on any major
podcast provider. I've also got links to
many of them on the Trident Theatre website:
tridenttheatre.com/euripides-eumenides/.
I'll see you at intermission!
