Audience Engagement

Liane Tomasetti discusses evaluating the impact of her team’s site-specific project and future implications for the community. 

Jonathan Mandell looks at the recent cell phone fury, especially among prominent performers, and offers a different take on theatre etiquette.

SK Kerastas describes an experience grappling with the concept of “radical hospitality” during Anna Deveare Smith’s Notes from the Field, Doing Time in Education: The California Chapter.

Liane Tomasetti shares some words of wisdom following the performances of the site-specific, immersive piece Animating the James and Ann Whithall House at Red Bank Battlefield.

In this installation, Seth Lepore compares theatre artists to metal bands, and realizes theatre artists have a lot they can learn.

Edward Einhorn on the economics of Money Lab and what it taught him about the relationship of art and money.

Joseph Pindelski describes the “high touch” and “high tech” audience engagement experiences The Goodman created for Regina Taylor’s stop. reset.

Cortney McEniry explores Taylor Swift’s method of engaging her fans, and how theatre companies can step out of the spotlight to really connect with members of their community.

Lighting designer Megan Reilly outlines the process of designing for production with twelve possible iterations.

Patrick Gabridge gives a run down of the results of the New England New Play Alliance's study on new play development and attendance in the Greater Boston region. 

"Audience participation" is a vague term, like much of theatrical terminology; it has come to mean different things to different people... What happens when the audience participates by becoming performers—without volunteering to do so?

Teresa Fisher, who recently wrote a book on post-show discussions, presents helpful suggestions how to structure and facilitate effective post-show discussions.

Jeni Incontro encourages the theatre industry to change the business model by embracing technology, filming performances, and giving theatregoers the option of watching whenever they’d like.

Mark Blankenship discusses Triple Play, an initiative exploring what artists and administrators can do to entice casual ticket buyers to see more new plays.

Cory Hinkle writes about Western Society from the British-German collective Gob Squad, and its multi-media, audience-involving production that investiages wish fulfillment, starting with the recreation of "one of the least watched videos on the Internet".

Commons Producer Ronee Penoi interviews Robert O’Hara, Playwright-in-Residence at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Washington, DC.

In his essay, Josh Sobel investigates interactive theatre.

Dani Snyder-Young writes about the 2014 Chicago Home Theater Festival, which places participatory performances inside private homes.

This week's conversation topic is "What's Your Relationship to Your Audience?" and will be moderated by Ian Hylands @8inky—who like all of our moderators, authors, and content producers—self-selected to peer-produce on this commons-based platform! This hour-long Howl will take place on Thursday, June 19 on hashtag #newplay at 11am PDT (Vancouver) / 1pm CDT (Austin) / 2pm EDT (Toronto) / 18:00 GMT / 7pm BST (London).

This week's conversation topic is "How To Sell a Play No One Has Heard of" and will be moderated by Alan Katz @dcdramaturg—who like all of our moderators, authors, and content producers—self-selected to peer-produce on this commons-based platform! This hour-long Howl will take place on Thursday, May 22 on hashtag #newplay at 11am PDT (Vancouver) / 1pm CDT (Austin) / 2pm EDT (Toronto) / 18:00 GMT / 7pm BST (London).

This week's conversation topic is "Curtain Calls & Curtain Speeches: Why, How, and When Do You Do It?" and will be moderated by Annie Paladino @anniepaladino and Zhenya Lavy @ZhenyaLavy—who like all of our moderators, authors, and content producers—self-selected to peer-produce on this commons-based platform! This hour-long Howl will take place on Thursday, May 15 on hashtag #newplay at 11am PDT (Vancouver) / 1pm CDT (Austin) / 2pm EDT (Toronto) / 18:00 GMT / 7pm BST (London).