Audience Engagement

UK contributor verity healey looks at how Doorstep Arts is bringing access to the theatre arts to Torbay.

Emily Cordes considers how Siobhan O’Loughlin’s immersive solo show Broken Bone Bathtub is a vehicle for audiences to find each other’s common humanity in a collaborative bath.

Lojo Simon writes about creating a reading and conversation series for her community.

Cherry Lou Sy shares her experience seeing the Neo-Futurists’ The Great American Drama, which examines perceptions of the American dream and success in theatre.

Professor James Ogden explores what it means to put a chair on stage, considering how design informs character choices.

Tiffany Antone makes a case for why we have to reconsider how/why we engage audiences, and why it is now every artist’s job to be out on the frontlines, cultivating radical empathy and civil discourse.

In this last installment, Rick Stemm shares the production process—from idea to execution—for Heroes Must Die.

Amelia Parenteau deconstructs the use of technology in The Builders Association’s production of Elements of Oz, an adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, presented at 3LD in New York City.

verity healey considers the Battersea Arts Centre’s new Courtyard theatre space and inviting an audience to participate in the performance through interaction with the performance space.

Emily White writes about how her research on posttraumatic growth informs her belief that theatre can be an important tool to help America unite and heal.

Sean Daniels writes about the successes and challenges of his first year as Artisitic Director of Merrimack Repertory Theatre. 

Rosa Schneider reflects on history plays, history, and pedagogy in Undergound Railroad Game created by Jennifer Kidwell and Scott Sheppard with Lightning Rod Special playing at Ars Nova in New York City.

In this second installment, Megan Reilly discusses her participation in Ascension, the second phase of The Tension Experience, and reflects on agency for audience members in this immersive experience.

Josh Platt on Double Edge Theatre’s Latin American Spectacle in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, Cada Luna Azul / Once a Blue Moon in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and the Springfield Spectacle, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Karen Hartman describes the process of immersing herself in a community in order to tell their story on stage, in this installment of the Triply Play series.

In this installment of the Triple Play series, Artistic Director Torange Yeghiazarian shares Golden Thread Productions' process for creating space for conversations with artists and audiences both about identity in and representation of the Middle East.

In this installment for the Triple Play series, Director of Community Engagement Leda Hoffmann shares Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s process for curating dialogue about new work with their audience.

In this installment of the Triple Play series, Lisa Mallette writes about how City Lights Theater Company extends “radical hospitality” to all audience members.

Neena Arndt writes about new strategies the Goodman is testing to give audience members information about shows before they arrive at the theatre.

Theatre marketing consultant Alli Houseworth calls for marketing and audience engagement to come together, the first in a series of articles about Triple Play, a project with Theatre Development Fund and Theatre Bay Area exploring the relationship between playwrights, theatres, and audiences.

The trajectory of playwright Tammy Ryan’s play Lost Boy in Whole Foods about Sudanese refugees in America and how a play about refugees plays today.

In this first installment, Megan Reilly shares her experience with the first phase of The Tension Experience, a project that’s a cross between immersive theatre and an Alternate Reality Game.

Beatriz Afonso Santos describes her process of exploring theatre and theatremaking techniques that involve all the senses. Read it in English and in Spanish!