Some days the internet seems like nothing more than a jargon factory. It pops out new words, phrases and memes that we are somehow supposed to instinctively know moments after coinage and knowledge of the day’s watchword becomes a hard demarcation of inclusion or exclusion.

It is imperative for those pockets of the internet that intend on being community to erase those lines whenever possible, to create shared vocabulary and eliminate shibboleths. During periods of heavy influx into the #2amt community we see a lot of repeated information as folks try to stake out territory for themselves, and we see a lot of confusion as concepts that the community has bashed around for a long time come across as jargon to new eyes. As I believe that unpacked jargon becomes vocabulary let’s unpack one of my frequent battle cries: Never be dark.

Never be dark (hashtagged #Neverbedark) is a two pronged concept depending on the space you’re running. Both are predicated on the idea that the hardest commodity to come by is space and that once you have it it shouldn’t be wasted.

The first prong is something that some companies are already doing, I call it “deputize and fill”. If you are running a space, curate your second stage (or heck your mainstage) and lend your credibility and space to a group whose art you want to support. Not as a rental. Be their producer and use your pulpit to to give others a voice. It deepens the field of artists that your patrons trust and creates relationship, both company to company and person to person, that our field could desperately use. There are also good business reasons to do it, but honestly you don’t need them.

The second prong is something that we started batting around in response to Eric Ziegenhagen’s drum beat for a theatrical counterpart to evenings out at a fine dining restaurant and to 2amtheatre.com’s own 360 Storytelling: Using the space in your theatre to host readings, and storytellings and other sorts of community nights, formal and in. Not as Mr. Walters cautions against “sit down and shut up” events but events that take advantage of our current participatory culture. If instead of focusing on the monolithic cultural center we create neighborhood playhouses that include spaces for both the specialized and the community artist. It would foster ownership in the communities’ arts and in the community hub as Shishur Kurup referred to it at the most recent #Newplay convening.

“But Travis, none of this is new,
none of this is anything like a fresh idea,
why should we care?”

Because it isn’t a new idea, because it isn’t fresh and it isn’t happening. Artists keep trying to build temples to their craft and people keep staying away.

#Neverbedark isn’t a call to think about community inclusion it’s a call to act on community inclusion.  You can start with whichever community you choose, the field or the neighborhood, but closed doors and dark nights are blown opportunities for both.

—

What are you doing to include your community?
What would you like to be doing to include your community?
How can the #2amt community help you do that?

As part of our efforts to solidify the beginnings made last year in the dawn of 2amTheatre.com, we will be rolling out some programmatic additions. Let’s start with: award winning arts maven Suzi Steffen. Suzi will be joining 2amTheatre.com as a contributor, kicking off her stay with us with wall-to-wall coverage of the Fertile Ground festival in Portland, Oregon.

Formerly performing and visual arts editor of the Eugene Weekly and currently a freelancer for the Oregonian, Stage Directions Magazine, TheatreFace, AlterNet and others. Suzi’s setting up her own statewide arts journalism website in Oregon to cover not only the usual suspects — Portland and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival — but food, wine, theater, dance, visual arts, literary arts and film across the state. When she takes a break from Facebook (where you can friend her) and Twitter (where you can follow her), she’s going to launch the site and promises to bug everyone in the #2amt community to comment on posts.

Suzi’s both a critic and a general arts writer. She always wants to learn more about theater, including back and front of house details, acting and directing philosophies and pre-production esoteric rituals.
Suzi grew up in Kansas City attending the Missouri Repertory Theatre (now the KC Rep), the Unicorn Theatre, Quality Hill Playhouse and many others. At the University of Missouri, she found that her class clown routine did not translate well into actual acting, though she did get to play a sad lady-in-waiting in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. She majored in history and art history and then earned master’s degrees in art history and literary nonfiction. Suzi moved to Oregon in 2002 in pursuit of the state’s natural beauty … and to get away from Iowa’s hog lots, blizzards and exploding cows.

She’s a pescatarian, news junkie, culture vulture, and an adjunct professor at the University of Oregon, where in winter quarter she’s teaching both reporting and a class called Writing About the Arts.

Want to see us live and direct from the first annual Chicago Fringe Festival? Streaming via the #newplay channel from Arena Stage, we go live at 10:30 am CT, 11:30 am ET, Saturday, September 4th, 2010.

Kris Vire, theatre editor at Time Out Chicago, is the moderator. The panel includes Bilal Dardai of The Neo-Futurists and New Leaf Theatre; Eric Ziegenhagen playwright, director, consultant to the Richard Driehaus Foundation; Rebecca Zellar, artistic director of the GreyZelda Theatre Company and David J. Loehr, artist-in-residence and co-producer with the Riverrun Theatre Company and editor of 2amt.

And if you happen to be in Chicago, come on down. It’s at the Edinburgh Stage, 2003 S. Halsted, which is also home to the Fringe HQ and box office. The event is free to the public and even includes a light brunch.

Here’s the official description of our panel discussion:

What is 2amt? Thinking outside the black box. It began as a conversation online that grew to include theatre artists, companies and patrons from around the world. It’s a hashtag on Twitter: #2amt. It’s a website: 2amtheatre.com. And it’s growing into so much more…

That’s great, but what is 2amt in practice? It’s a place to ask questions, share ideas, preach to the choir. Better yet, it’s a place to find other choirs you didn’t even know about. It’s a conversation that’s been described as “the verbal equivalent of Red Bull on crack.” It’s a jumper cable for your creative side. 2amt encourages communication, cooperation and collaboration.

And now, you get to see it in action, in person, live and in 3-D. No glasses required.

Find out how 2amt works and why you should join the conversation.

Be there, aloha.

From the Chicago Theatre (anti) Conference held at the Theater Wit complex in Chicago, here’s the 2amt session, featuring Nick Keenan and myself as recorded by Kyle Hamman…

2amtheatre Talk at Chicago Theatre (anti) Conference from KBH Media on Vimeo.

It’s a fun talk (as I recall) and should whet your appetite for this weekend’s 2amt in the 3rd Dimension talk from the Chicago Fringe Festival, which we’ll be streaming live…

I recently had the opportunity to meet up IRL (in real life) with @scottyiseri and @Chris_Ashworth, two gentlemen whose thoughts I have been following regularly through the #2amt hashtag on Twitter.

Each time I was astonished, once again, at the value of translating the “idea” of a person… the strange amalgam of avatar, blog thoughts and twitter musings that I had assigned to a certain “identity” in my mind… into a real living, breathing human being.

As I prepare to head down to the Theater Bay Area conference on Monday, to talk about “advancing your career through social media,” I find that it is these “meatspace” interactions that have crystallized the real value of the extensive cyberspace interactions that I have invested my professional energy in these last few years.

Why?

Well, here’s a secret I don’t tell many people.

I’m terrified of strangers with name badges.

I go to conferences and “networking events” scanning eyeballs and job titles desperate for something, anything, to latch onto that might be an excuse to start a conversation. But, what’s the right tone? The right opening line? How do I know I’ve found a useful connection? How do I know the nametag-attached-to-a-bundle-of-flesh I am currently talking to is not just standing there waiting for the next, more relevant person to talk to them?

I prefer to start my relationships in the middle. With the cameraderie, the inside jokes, skipping right ahead to the meaty idea-swapping, provocative question part of the conversation.

You know, the GOOD stuff.

And I realized suddenly, after two completely fascinating conversations with people who, by all accounts should have been COMPLETE STRANGERS, that, through the magic of this medium called social media, we were able to skip ahead. To the good stuff.

We had a frame of reference for understanding each other. A short hand, if you will. A pre-screened assurance that we were probably going to be worth each other’s time and energy. It was oddly reassuring to discover when I arrived for coffee, or for brunch, that the person I was meeting also “knew what they were getting into” by talking to me. They had, after all, a rich database of reference material to help point the way to what I might know that would be of value to them and just how we might get along.

Our conversations veered wildly from the topics we discuss on Twitter or through this blog. But the foundation was built on a core of shared perspective that made the each diversion a breeze. Right from the opening line. Boy, if only online dating sites were so effective, right?

So as I prepare for this panel discussion on “Professional Development through Social Media,” I find myself looking forward with anticipation to the San Franciscans I might meet in “meatspace” who have been following the work of this blog and the #2amt hashtag. I look forward to skipping ahead with you, my un-met band of #2amt brothers and sisters, to the good stuff.

In fact, feel free to introduce yourself, in these comments or on twitter (@trishamead) and let me know if you have time to meet up this weekend (I’ll be in San Fran from Saturday afternoon to Tuesday morning). Tell me what you’re excited about, what you’re working on.

And then, at the conference, throw a #2amt tag right on that scary scary nametag, along with your twitter handle. That way I’ll know that you, like me, are ready to skip to the good stuff.

Together we’ll chart the path to a smarter, more impassioned, more engaged theater community. One conversation at a time.

I can’t wait.

It popped up in my newsfeed again: another article about an opera/museum/symphony theater company’s new initiatives to attract a “younger audience.”

I open these articles with a combination of dread and excitement these days. Maybe this time, this new organization (that spent a couple hundred thousand dollars on a market research study) will announce a genuinely new idea- something that really addresses the interest gap between young pop culture enthusiasts and high culture curators.

Instead, it is the same five tired ideas that every other arts organization has tried. That did not work. The frustrating part? This company could have saved themselves the time and the money by just making  a few phone calls to their neighbor organizations who already tried these same ideas and asked them, “So, how did it work for you?”

You didn’t ask. So I’m going save us all some time and TELL you anyway. Here are the Top 5 things that have been tried at arts organizations large and small for the last decade to “build a younger audience” that DO NOT WORK.

5. Young Professionals Club.

How it’s supposed to work: You invite a committee of “young professionals” to organize parties and events related to your organization. These “influencers” invite their friends and like-aged colleagues to the events, after which they become delighted to have discovered your art form and develop into subscribers, donors, and board members.

What really happens: You spend an extraordinary amount of time and resources to find food, booze, etc. to repeatedly entertain this committee’s same group of 20 to 30 friends. In the best case scenario, these events become popular for the free booze and the meat market. Your art form is an afterthought. The percentage of new patrons gained in your target demographic does not even remotely compensate for the staff time, organizational energy and resource gathering it takes to carry this off.

Instead: Want to cultivate younger board members? Take them to lunch. Invite them to the theater. Don’t throw free parties for their ex-lovers and friends.

4. Regularly Scheduled “Young People’s subscription series” with catchy/hip sounding name. Probably with the word HIP or AFTER in the title.

How it’s supposed to work: You make people feel more comfortable coming to your otherwise uncomfortable venue by giving them a special night where they are promised other young people to hang out with while they see your work. You probably add enticements like pre-show wine tastings, post-show live bands in the lobby or on stage, and Wii competitions after the show.

What actually happens: You sell a few deeply discounted subscriptions to young people in this series. But it doesn’t fill, so you open up tickets to your regular audience. The pre-show wine tasting is a sea of cat-loving women of an age. The post-show band lets their friends and fans in through the backdoor once the show lets out- they don’t even know what the show WAS. Your building clean up staff hates you in the morning.

Instead: A young subscription series is like asking us to get married before we’ve been on a date. And our generation decides by cell phone where to meet up for dinner WHILE WE’RE IN THE CAR ON THE WAY. Your attempt to squeeze a year long commitment out of a new audience demographic is doomed. Accept it. Instead, create a standing offer for people below a certain age- one that’s available almost any time. And scrupulously examine and eliminate all of  your barriers to last minute ticket purchase (Do your box office phones close two hours before curtain? Are there ten clicks between your homepage and the actual moment you can purchase a ticket? Can you even PURCHASE a ticket through a mobile device?)

3. Your Student Ambassador Program.

How it’s supposed to work: You create volunteer positions for students at colleges and universities who agree to hang your posters and put your postcards in the student union in exchange for free tickets to the shows.

What really happens:The theater nerd you hired is ecstatic about the opportunity (and the tickets) at first. Then second semester slams them with a heavy course load, they get cast in the spring musical, and your postcards moulder in the trunk of their car.

Instead: How up to date is your contact list for the student newspaper? The “writers” there change every semester. But at least if you email them and invite them to the show, their opinion will be broadcast in print form throughout campus. Much more potentially influential than a coffee stained postcard in the student union. Also, how actively are you keeping in touch with the English and Humanities department heads? A regular invitation to them, with a reminder of how your art relates to their coursework is probably the single most efficient way to get college aged bodies into your building. Studies repeatedly show that people who are exposed to the arts as part of their college course work later go on to voluntarily participate in cultural events after they graduate (with a ten year lag, of course).

2. Starting a Facebook Page and Twitter Feed.

How it’s supposed to work:Everyone on Facebook is an overcaffeinated, multi-tasking 20-something dying to be “invited” to your performance series so they can later “tweet” about how awesome your show is and tell everyone to “#FF” you.

What really happens: You do know that the median age of Facebook is much closer to 40 than 20, right? And that over 70% of Americans have an account? Facebook is a fantastic tool to connect with your WHOLE audience. But if  you are mostly sending out endless “facebook invites” to your performances and then posting your press release and show poster with a “Don’t Miss this show, great under 30 discounts here” message, you are not only annoying that 20-something audience you are trying to cultivate , you are under-serving the rest of your audience to whom the discount does not apply.

Instead: Your audience should get the same high quality cultural experience from you on Facebook as they do when they show up at your venue. The difference? At a performance, they don’t get to talk to the artists. On Facebook, they should be encouraged to. So ask questions, encourage them to ask questions, tell stories, provide behind the scenes snapshots. To use the buzzword, ENGAGE. And make sure that “special offers to Facebook fans” are less than 20% of your overall communication on that medium. The same goes for Twitter- make sure you are entertaining/enlightening (and LISTENING) to your audience twice as much as you are “offering” to them. The young audiences on those mediums will notice (and appreciate) that you are “getting it right.”

1. Hire a “hip” Marketing Consultant to “freshen” up your materials and make them “speak” to a younger generation.

How it’s supposed to work: These people know the buzzwords to speak to that generation, and they know the cutting edge graphic styles that will make your Stravinsky concert look as thrilling as the latest “Passion Pit” concert poster.

What actually happens: They present you a proposal that suggests that you lower-case everything in your marketing materials, start a twitter feed, and have live bands play in your venue after hours. Then they charge you an exorbitant fee to “curate”  illustrations from the same illustrators  you could have found yourself if you had put out an RFP through any one of a number of design gig listservs.

Instead: Have a heart – to- heart with your core artistic staff. How willing are they to explore projects that have true cultural relevance to the under-40 generation? More importantly, who have they cultivated as a  resource to introduce them to artists and projects that connect with the current generation’s tastes and concerns? Is there, in fact, ANYONE in your artistic department under 40? This is where the real rubber meets the road. Just like you cannot expect to attract a diverse audience without a deep commitment to collaboration and programming that’s directly relevant to their concerns, you can’t introduce a younger audience to your art form if you aren’t presenting something that feels relevant to their lives and in touch with the world they live in.

Don’t put the onus entirely on the artistic department, however. It’s also time for you to have a heart-to-heart with your entire communications team, to comb through the language you use to promote your institution and rid it of double-speak, insider references to “legends” in your industry that people below 40 have probably never heard of, graduate level vocabulary and excessive, effusive adjectives intended to imply a critical approval of your art that may or may not exist (in other words, bullshit).

Ask yourself:

Does this description of our event connect the dots between the experience of the event and a familiar cultural phenomena of the last 10 years?

Does it smell like “corporate speak” to a generation raised in a media-saturated (and savvy) environment?

Does it imply a need to understand the entire context of modern theater/dance/music to get the references?

Does it assume familiarity with theater-going habits or ideas (subscription, exchange, orchestra,mezzanine, Tony Award, preview…) that may be entirely unfamiliar to someone who’s never bought a ticket to the theater before?

In fact, do that before you start a single new program, pricing plan or “committee.” And if you are not sure, take a great writer (who’s under 40 and not an insider to your art form) out to lunch and tell them to tear apart your copy. You’ll probably learn more about the audience you are trying to reach in that one lunch than anything else you could possibly do.

Speaking of just ASKING, what have you done to attract a younger audience that’s seen real results? I’d love to hear your success stories and any other ideas you’ve tried that weren’t what they were cracked up to be. Do TELL.

This week’s live chat over at TheatreFace.com featured 2amt, among other things…

Here’s a transcript in case you missed it or aren’t a member of TheatreFace. (And if you’re not a member, why the heck not? Go on over to TheatreFace and join up. It’s free, it’s a lovely place to visit, we’re all over there as well and meeting new people every day.)

JACOB COAKLEY: it’s almost time to start, so here come the guidelines!

JACOB COAKLEY: David and I will chat for about the first 15 minutes or so (down from tehusual, b/c I know you’re a chatty bunch)

JACOB COAKLEY: and then I’ll open it up to comments/questions from everyone else.

JACOB COAKLEY: David – if you’ve got a long response to a question, let us know when you’ve finished answering by typing “/e” at the end of your post.

JACOB COAKLEY: like so. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: And we’re off!

DAVID J. LOEHR: Ready when you are.

JACOB COAKLEY: Easy question first — David — how’d you end up in Indiana?

DAVID J. LOEHR: Kidnapped by my then-fiancee, now wife. She’s a librarian by trade, got a job at Hanover College and asked me to join her. Then I got involved with the theatre dept. there and the rest is history.

JACOB COAKLEY: Where were you at before Indiana?

DAVID J. LOEHR: Spent about 13 yrs in the Princeton, NJ, area, shuttling b/w NYC and Philly.

JACOB COAKLEY: did you go to school there?

DAVID J. LOEHR: Nope, it was just a convenient place to live; my father commuted into NYC for his job, and Princeton’s an hour by train.

JACOB COAKLEY: OK, so let’s get into the origin myth next. How’d you end up in theatre?

DAVID J. LOEHR: Well, I always knew I was going to be a writer, it was just a matter of finding a place to fit in. Theatre had always intrigued me back east, and when I came to Hanover, that was the “tipping point.”

JACOB COAKLEY: “Tipping point”? What was that like? And what did you tip into?

DAVID J. LOEHR: At first, it was designing marketing materials–posters, flyers, programs–for the department in exchange for workshopping plays with the students. Soon, I got to learn about the other parts of the building, the other parts of play production.

DAVID J. LOEHR: After four years of that, the chair of the dept and I decided to start our own company to do plays we might not be able to do at the college. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Riverrun.

DAVID J. LOEHR: Riverrun, that’s right.

JACOB COAKLEY: Do you still do marketing for the college?

DAVID J. LOEHR: Not anymore. The college itself revised how they wanted to run their marketing in general. That’s the main reason. I do still design marketing for other theatre co’s, tho.

JACOB COAKLEY: So about marketing for theatres (we’ll get to sefl-marketing in a sec) — what do you consistently see theatres doing wrong when marketing themselves? Or is there one thing most theatres can always do better?

DAVID J. LOEHR: /e

DAVID J. LOEHR: If I had to boil it down to one word, it would be FOCUS.

DAVID J. LOEHR: Whether it’s the focus of your mission or seasonal selection, or even the imagery you use in marketing, that’s paramount.

DAVID J. LOEHR: So many times, you’ll see busy, confusing posters. I like to see the poster from 50 feet and be intrigued enough to come closer, see the fine details.

DAVID J. LOEHR: The same goes for the rest of your marketing, whether printed or online. You want a consistent style, look, feel, sound.

DAVID J. LOEHR: /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Can you give us an example? MAybe a short summary of the last Riverrun campaign?

DAVID J. LOEHR: In general, I like to use a big, bold, simple image. For a play called “Marion Bridge,” that involved a post-it pad with a crudely drawn heart on the top sheet; this was a vital component of the script, although—

DAVID J. LOEHR: –it didn’t spoil a thing to show that image. On the contrary, it enhanced the moment when the characters found that specific post-it. EVerything clicked.

DAVID J. LOEHR: But for the viewer, the person looking at the poster, it was a simple image that pulled them in. The image is set within a clear framework, the Riverrun house style, so they know whose poster it is from a distance as well.

DAVID J. LOEHR: Dates, times, pricing, etc, that’s what they can read when they’re close up. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: OK, before we open it up to #2amt, I did wanna touch briefly on how to self-market, esp. as a playwright. So, along the lines of “big, bold, simple” images for your theatre. .. .

JACOB COAKLEY: How can playwrights looking to get their work produced (or expand their reach) do something akin to that?

JACOB COAKLEY: There’s been a lot of talk about the travails of the playwright lately — do you ahve any advice from getting your own work produced you can share?

DAVID J. LOEHR: Of course, it starts with the script. Then, I design a package to go with it, as if I were producing it. I’ve self-published some, which can be a good sample to hand off to people as well.

DAVID J. LOEHR: Right now, I’m finding the best luck from making personal connections with theatre companies. Part of the mission of Riverrun–which supports local professional theatre artists in our region–is to produce my work. (Being a local pro etc.)

DAVID J. LOEHR: Having started from there, I’ve been able to meet more people and make those connections. That’s how we’ve been lucky enough to produce a few short plays down at Actors Theatre of Louisville. From that, more connections, more interest and so on.

DAVID J. LOEHR: And–not to steer into the wind or anything–that’s been part of how the whole #2amt has grown, too.

DAVID J. LOEHR: /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Nope, that’s where we’re headed next.

JACOB COAKLEY: So — short summary of #2amt?

DAVID J. LOEHR: Started as a late-night conversation on Twitter back in January. Went on and on, accreting more people as it went; I finally went to sleep at 5:30am, having said I was going to at 1am.

DAVID J. LOEHR: The next day, Kris Vire of Time Out Chicago noted that he’d missed “the great 2am theatre summit.” A few days later, a #2am tag appeared on a theatre question. And again days after that. But there was so much noise on that tag—

DAVID J. LOEHR: /e

JACOB COAKLEY: So, quick show of hands — how many people here follow the #2amt tag on Twitter? Or read the blog over at www.2amtheatre.com?

DAVID J. LOEHR: I do! (hush, David)

BORA “MAX” KONKNAR: Hand!

RACHAEL STOLL: I do as of an hour ago!

RABECCAZ: You know it, dawg. (Hand.)

MARLEY MONK: Hand!

LOIS DAWSON: hand

NICK KEENAN: Oh yes.

JACOB COAKLEY: I know there are others, too — so here’s my question, first to David, then to you all.

JACOB COAKLEY: It’s a great generator of ideas (duh) –

JACOB COAKLEY: How do you decided which to implement? Or track?

KYLE HAMMAN: i do.

JACOB COAKLEY: How are we putting all these into action?

DAVID J. LOEHR: The beauty of it, to me, is that a lot of these ideas could work for theatres at any level, from storefront to major regional theatre. Some are more suited for a major city–Chicago’s something of an incubator for a lot of these ideas…

JACOB COAKLEY: yep….

DAVID J. LOEHR: Others are more suited for my area–small town, centered between Indy, Cincinnati and Louisville. The 360 Storytelling idea is something anyone can do. A membership structure like ACT is trying is possible–with scaling, simplifying–most anywhere.

DAVID J. LOEHR: I think it’s really a matter of seeing what everyone else is trying or thinking, seeing if that’s something my or your theatre could try, if it’s something your community needs/wants/lacks.

DAVID J. LOEHR: /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Communication and raising awareness between levels of theatres and regions is alwaysa good thing.

LOIS DAWSON: I’m starting a new company this year (two shows in the 2010-2011 season – one in the fringe then our big debut) and as I’m jumpinng into a whole new field these ideas are a launching off point for me in creating our marketing plan, among other things

LOIS DAWSON: also use the #2amt tag to solicit advice from the folks who have gone before

JACOB COAKLEY: What Fringe, Lois?

DAVID J. LOEHR: One thing we’ve bandied about is the difference between cooperation and collaboration. We could all use more cooperation across levels and theatres. If collaboration grows from that, wonderful.

JACOB COAKLEY: what does cooperation look like?

LOIS DAWSON: Vancouver Fringe

JACOB COAKLEY: (space use, graphic design station time, etc)

DAVID J. LOEHR: For instance, Steppenwolf’s garage rep series, hosting smaller companies instead of charging them hideous rent for space. Brings new blood into their space. ACT also does similar programs.

JACOB COAKLEY: (we talking San Francisco ACT, or Seattle’s ACT?)

DAVID J. LOEHR: Seattle’s ACT, thank you for noting that.

DAVID J. LOEHR: That’s just one type of cooperation.

BORA “MAX” KONKNAR: I’ve just started a company around January, and am lucky with the timing as #2amt is providing some really great ideas to build the basic infrastructure of the whole company as we move from our inaugural even in Feb to first full production…

DAVID J. LOEHR: Another is maybe a membership program shared by several companies, which exposes audience members to new work, new theatres they might not have even known about before.

BORA “MAX” KONKNAR: I’d also like to note the part #2amt conversation plays in figuring out how many of the broad ideas can be scaled and modified to fit into all sorts of different situations. configurations, levels.

JACOB COAKLEY: ACT and The Public in NYC both doing that. . .

DAVID J. LOEHR: There’s a group of theatre companies in Vancouver–if I’m not mistaken–that has a program similar to that.

TRAVIS BERDARD: [SeeSeven]

DAVID J. LOEHR: Yes, the Public news put a big smile on my face the other week. We’re not insane…

JACOB COAKLEY: Max — what’s one you’re using for the inaugural event?

DAVID J. LOEHR: (Listen to Bedard. SeeSeven in Vancouver.)

JACOB COAKLEY: While he’s typing up that — David – talk a little about your 360 project, and how it’s meant to bring in new audiences, and involve them in a diff way.
BORA “MAX” KONKNAR: We produced a 24 Hour Show… drawing writers, directors and actors using social media, Created 8 short plays in 24 hours and created an instant community around our company who still keep in touch with us, waiting for the next project.

LOIS DAWSON: (SeeSeven is about sharing publicity resources and creating a season ‘s ticket that encompases many companies – they don’t share space)

BORA “MAX” KONKNAR: I’ll squeeze in here that 360 is probably what will be coming next to continue nurturing our new community

DAVID J. LOEHR: The 360 is a storytelling format. Unlike the Moth and others that are curated and programmed, this is literally open to anyone in the audience. It’s not a competition or a “slam,” it’s just telling stories.

DAVID J. LOEHR: Everyone has six minutes–or 360 seconds–to bring a story full circle. That keeps the teller focused–there’s that word again–and keeps the event moving.

DAVID J. LOEHR: The nice thing is, instead of pulling back the curtain and showing your audience the “process” from a distance, this makes them the process. They get the electric joy of telling a story to an appreciative crowd.

DAVID J. LOEHR: You can have themed nights, you can let a theme grow from the stories on the spot (which does happen and is amazing to watch).

DAVID J. LOEHR: Best of all, you can do it in your venue or move it around to sponsors, whether cafe, bookstore, library, winery, any place that’ll let you.

DAVID J. LOEHR: And it’s free. All we ask is that you credit 2amt with the format.

DAVID J. LOEHR: /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Perfect.

JACOB COAKLEY: Max is thinking about it — has anyone here (other than David) organized one fo these? or participated?

TRAVIS BEDARD: Not yet but I will.

JACOB COAKLEY: David — how would you go about approaching sponsors esp. non-trad spaces like bookstores, to let you host something like this?

KYLE HAMMAN: Not yet. Working on putting one together with social media as the theme.

JACOB COAKLEY: Where are you based, Kyle?

NICK KEENAN: New Leaf Theatre in Chi is organizing one on the subject of Hunger for our production of Curse of the Starving Class.

KYLE HAMMAN: Chicago. Strawdog Theatre Company.

DAVID J. LOEHR: I would simply walk in and ask. It helps if you already have a good relationship with the sponsor/business. If it’s a place you hang out often, if they know you, that’s a great shortcut.

RACHAL STOLL: I fished to to my friends who just started a new theatre company. I think it’s something they will jump on.

JACOB COAKLEY: There’s that “Chicago as percolator for theatre ideas thing again…

DAVID J. LOEHR: If not, just introduce yourself and explain the concept. They ought to like the idea of “people sitting in my business, buying drinks, having a good time.” Kind of sells itself, in my experience.

NICK KEENAN: I think it’s that we have enough cos connected to this national conversation that we can quickly iterate 4 versions of an idea and see which implementation is successful.

TONY ADAMS: @Kyle 360 would probalbly go gangbusters with the radio show

DAVID J. LOEHR: Oh yeah. 360′s well suited for radio, podcast, online, Skyping, anything. So simple…

KYLE HAMMAN: @nick or successful to what degrees for different companies/goals.

DAVID J. LOEHR: And Nick’s right. (I say this often.) We can try different variations quickly and easily around the country and share what works, what doesn’t very easily.

JACOB COAKLEY: That’s a good question — for those companies planning one of these, what are the goals?

KYLE HAMMAN: @tony the radio show is currently being revamped so yeah. absolutely.

TRAVIS BEDARD: Fun.

DAVID J. LOEHR: Fun, definitely. Engagement. Community building. Sharing that joy and then inviting them to see the stories we tell, if they don’t attend shows already.

JACOB COAKLEY: Interactive marketing. . .

DAVID J. LOEHR: Yup. It’s fully-immersive, 3-D, interactive…

JACOB COAKLEY: Adn it requires a lot less start-up costs than an immersive ride at Disney…

DAVID J. LOEHR: All you need is a timer and maybe a bell.
KYLE HAMMAN: Bedard is right. Fun. but we also have a liquor license so we are looking for programming that will allow for creative expression/performance but also sell some drinks. it’s a fine line.

BORA “MAX” KONKNAR: For us (Bindlepunks in Bay area), it’s very much still part of our ‘coming out’ we want to establish a community, one of participants in our future work as well as of audiences.

DAVID J. LOEHR: That’s a very good point, Kyle. It’s something that can drive more sales to your own bar, which is only a good thing.

NICK KEENAN: It also puts the audience in control of the process. it’s the right kind of immersion – active instead of passive. They get a rush when they step into that light or when they grab that microphone and have to PERFORM.

DAVID J. LOEHR: It’s been amazing to see people who came to watch who then come out of their shell and want to join in.

BORA “MAX” KONKNAR: Active participation in an organization/idea = ownership = investment in its success.

JACOB COAKLEY: I know it’s not a competition, but is there any incentive to participate — free drink, free tix, discounta t bookstore — other than rush of perfomring?

RACHEL STOLL: Out in LA free drinks is a liability issues a lot of the time.

DAVID J. LOEHR: There can be. It’s very flexible. So it can be a competition if you want, or it can come with coupons to your shows, etc.

JACOB COAKLEY: Yeah, I suppose “free beer” might not be the safest legal ground to be on…

RACHEL STOLL: Yeah I was setting up an event and wanted to do drink tickets included in the price. Alas.

DAVID J. LOEHR: Work with a restaurant or caterer and offer free food, this would be marketing for them with a captive audience.

JACOB COAKLEY: OK – we don’t have to stop, but we are at the point when I have to officially say “Thank you” to David — So…. Thank you!

LOIS DAWSON: And alas, I have to run. THe theatre needs me (something about a photoshoot?)

JACOB COAKLEY: And I know many of you have day gigs to get to as well. (case in point)

DAVID J. LOEHR: Thank you, too, Jacob! And anyone who wants to ask more, just jump in on the #2amt tag on twitter, and/or follow me @dloehr or @2amt.

DAVID J. LOEHR: But I’m game to hang out for a while…

JACOB COAKLEY: So — we’d love everyone to stick around and keep chatting, or browse the forums here on TheatreFace and keep the convo going here as well… and in all the other channels David mentions.

So there you are, surfing the Twitter streams with your interface of choice–sounds like something out of William Gibson, doesn’t it?–and up comes a tweet from one of the theatre companies you follow. There’s a link in the tweet. You’re curious, so you click on it.

The next thing you know, you’re in Facebook, reading a status update that’s exactly the same as the tweet. And this one doesn’t have a link, it doesn’t lead anywhere. It’s the same message, nothing more. You’ve just hit a dead end in the world of social media.

If you learn only one thing about how to use social media, it’s this: Twitter is a conversation. Period.

The other day, the hashtag #artslabsf covered a workshop called Leveraging Social Media, presented by Beth Kanter at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. (That link will take you to Beth’s blog post about the event, with the full slide show and more.*) One of the ideas that popped up on the Twitter stream was the Four E’s of Twitter…

Engage. Excite. Encourage. Empower.

When you create a dead end–and lure your followers into it–you’re not doing any one of those things.

Here’s an example from a large regional theatre, whose name has been redacted.

You might see this come up in your Twitter stream and think, “But I’m already following you on Twitter, or I wouldn’t have seen that.” Maybe you click the link to see what’s going on. And that leads you to this.

Same message, nowhere to go. This example is worse than their average post. It’s not a dead end, it’s a cul-de-sac right back to Twitter.

Clearly, their Facebook and Twitter accounts are linked. What goes in one posts to the other. More and more, you’ll see “/fb” in the tweet to indicate that it’s a dual post. But more and more, you should stop doing that entirely. You’ll find that most of the folks that follow you on Twitter have also “become a fan” on Facebook, so right there, your message is redundant.

This is common for this company and, sadly, most of the theatre companies I see on Twitter.

Not all social media is alike.

Facebook is for static status updates. Yes, you can comment and interact, you can “like” items, but it’s not engaging your audience in the same way. It’s a news feed, not a conversation. For too many theatre companies, Facebook is becoming the landing point, the end of the journey, instead of a gateway to their own website. Whether it’s a status update or an “event page” at Facebook, the audience is staying in the Facebook environment.

Twitter is interactive. You don’t have to sell us, we’re already following you because we like your work or are at the very least interested in your work. And it’s more direct than a mailing list, either a real or virtual one. If you have to put a link–and by all means, links are good–then send me directly to your theatre’s website. Send me to a video or a blog post, show me your next production, let me see your theatre’s personality, your theatre’s style. At the very least, send me to your home page. Don’t send me to the blue and white Facebook page that looks like every other Facebook page.

And don’t expect the user to click through from Facebook. The more layers you put between your audience and your site, the less likely your audience is to follow through. If all you ever do is link to an identical Facebook status–if all you do is send the audience to a dead end–pretty soon, they’re going to stop clicking on your links. On the contrary, you’ll be driving them away from you. Odds are, they’ll unfollow you on Twitter.

“Maybe” is the new “no.”

If you think about it, Facebook is nothing but layers. News feeds, recent news, all friends, fans, events. None of them lead back to your site. Sure, you may put links from there, but there’s no guarantee the audience will click through, and given the Facebook structure, there’s no real need to click through. Facebook is designed to keep the user on the Facebook site.

I know what you’re thinking. What about Facebook event pages? They pop up and remind people of our show/event/soiree/etc. Yes, but that’s just another convenient layer. You may invite someone on Facebook to your event, that’s great. They have the choice of yes, no or maybe. Even if they say yes, that’s not a reservation, that’s not a ticket sale, that’s just being polite. It certainly doesn’t mean they’ll actually show up. Of course, nobody has to say no, either. Maybe will do–it’s polite, it’s non-committal, it’s a no in disguise.

Saying “maybe” will keep the event popping up on your Facebook calendar, and it is handy for that. But how many events have you said “maybe” to that you end up passing on?

Twitter doesn’t have the same distance between you and your followers. You should talk with them, not at them. Let them peek behind the curtain. Share the process of selecting the next season. Have “tweet-ups” at local restaurants, bars, cafes, preferably your sponsors’ places. Answer questions. Heck, ask questions and see what they say. Don’t think of this as a direct line to your audience, think of it as your audience having a direct line to you.

Effective use of resources?

In the Theatre Communications Group’s Taking Your Fiscal Pulse study of member theatres this spring, aside from financial concerns and other depressing statistics, one detail jumped out at me. Apparently, only 7% of the theatres surveyed plan to find ways to share resources with other organizations or to use social media.

This boggles the mind. The idea of sharing resources is something we’ve covered before and will again. It’s the social media stat that I’m looking at right now. It bears repeating.

Only 7% of the theatres surveyed plan to use social media.

In case you hadn’t noticed, this is all free. All it costs is a little time and some creativity. You will need to engage with your audience for these networks to be effective, but it really is worth the effort. Engage them and the other E’s will follow.

Think of your Twitter followers as your “street team,” to use a term from the music industry. This is your first line of evangelists–another E–spreading word about the exciting things going on at your theatre. They’ll tell two friends, and they’ll tell two friends and so on and so on and so on. I may have dated myself with that reference, but that’s all right. That shampoo ad is the essence of viral media and social networking.

Twitter is the simplest, most dynamic way of connecting with your audience members short of walking into their homes and sitting on their couch to talk. And it’s free. Why wouldn’t you take the opportunity to engage, excite, encourage and empower your audience?

One more “E” before I go…

I’ll leave you with this quote from E. M. Forster, who said quite simply, “Only connect.”

Think about this. If it weren’t for the engagement and connection offered by Twitter, this site–this 2am Theatre community–would not exist. This group of people using the #2amt hashtag has grown and spread around the world. And now, this group is doing more than share ideas and debate marketing strategies. You get creative people together, they’re going to start getting creative. But that’s a post–and a project–for another day…

Only connect. Thirteen characters. Couldn’t have tweeted it better myself.

* It might not surprise you to learn that Beth featured the #2amt hashtag and this website in her talk. I thought I should mention that in the interests of full disclosure.

We don’t normally pay attention to 2pm around here–or time at all, really, since it’s always 2am here–but this afternoon, you’d have been able to join in a chat at TheatreFace with our own 2am summit guru, Nick Keenan. Quite simply, if it weren’t for the ongoing conversations with Nick among others, there would be no 2amtheatre.

If you weren’t there, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered with a transcript from the chat…

Here it is, raw and complete. You might recognize some folks from here and from our blogroll. (Might? Might?) And please, go visit TheatreFace and sign up already. You know you want to…

JACOB COAKLEY: Excellent. Let’s start with an easy one, Nick — how’d you get into theatre? Then — how’d you get into sound?

NICK KEENAN: I did a very small amount of theater in high school – was actually pretty jealous of the kids who did student writtens. In college, I started with a Japanese major but wanted to try out a gen ed in college.

NICK KEENAN: I did, and by senior year I was producing undergrad work.

NICK KEENAN: I wrote a couple plays, and ended up designing sound for an adaptation we did of the Jacobean play the Revenger’s Tragedy – lots of Nine Inch Nails and Tool, looped and shaped.

NK:” We didn’t really have a sound department at Umass at the time, and the faculty hired me on after graduation to design a whole season. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Umass?

NICK KEENAN: UMass Amherst, class of 2000

JACOB COAKLEY: Did you have a bacgground in composition or music before you took off into sound? Or was it just filing need at first, then fidning your talent at it?

NICK KEENAN: I liked music a lot – especially over-produced studio albums. Like many sound designers my age, it was pretty easy to take the textures that Trent Reznor was creating in NIN at the time and transport them into theatrical environments.

JACOB COAKLEY: it was around then he was releasing all his individual protools tracks, I think…

NICK KEENAN: Listening to those kinds of albums helps train your ear to pick apart different layers, directionality, frequency, and the way it all can be orchestrated together to create an emotional experience. /e

NICK KEENAN: A little bit after, actually. This is was circa The Fragile.

JACOB COAKLEY: OK.

JACOB COAKLEY: Did you go on to a grad program to learn more about sound design, or did you pick it up on the fly designing for your college?

NICK KEENAN: At this date, I know of I think five grad programs for theatrical sound design in the country. Its not the path that any of us took. Actually, my intern at the Goodman right now is the first trainee that I’ve ever seen in a sound grad program.

NICK KEENAN: So it was jump right into professional work and learn how to collaborate real quick. /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Do you feel at a disadvantage b/c of that? Have you taken composing classes since leaving school? Or jsut picked it up in teh course of your work?

NICK KEENAN: I think being in sound alone and learning all that you need to know to do it properly is its own advantage. In Chicago, we have about 10 full-time sound designers in town, and about 1,300 shows we produce each year.

NICK KEENAN: Composing I’m still teaching myself – I’m not a musician or composer at all – but I can often fool folks because in non-musical theater you want texture, not melody.

NICK KEENAN: But you need a process that allows you learn all these skills AND overlap designs so that you can earn a living wage.

NICK KEENAN: /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Ah yes, the living wage problem again.

NICK KEENAN: A problem that every artist must solve, yes.

JACOB COAKLEY: Talk about what you mean by “texture” for a non-musical thetare. What is that exactly? Scene sting music, underscore during dramatic parts? Does that rsolve itself differently for each show?

NICK KEENAN: I think it’s pretty elemental. When I’m designing a system I’m thinking about the acoustics of the space, and how that translates into the acoustics of the world of the play.

NICK KEENAN: The texture of sound can be used to make spaces feel different than they are, just as light changes the way that static objects are shaped.

NICK KEENAN: And even if I’m not using music in a show, I may change the way a room ‘feels” by adding rumbles, tones, dancing notes, environmental scoring: texture /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Tahnks for that.

NICK KEENAN: An example, actually:

JACOB COAKLEY: please!

NICK KEENAN: You guys know A.R. Gurney’s play “The Dining Room?”

JACOB COAKLEY: vaguely, yes.

NICK KEENAN: Basically a bunch of families in different decades overlapping their lives in the same environment: the dining room. You’ll be in the 40s and then teens from the 80s will run through.

JACOB COAKLEY: OK.

NICK KEENAN: We cut all the props in a production we did of that at New Leaf theater, and I fired a special practical speaker into the dining room table.

NICK KEENAN: The actors would move their hand, and you would hear them pick up and polish a fork or fold a newspaper, but you wouldn’t see it happen.

NICK KEENAN: The space became the home of ghosts.

JACOB COAKLEY: that’s pretty cool.

NICK KEENAN: It all comes from thinking about the acoustic “physics” of the world of the play.

NICK KEENAN: /e

JACOB COAKLEY: Very neat

JACOB COAKLEY: OK, switching gears.

JACOB COAKLEY: sorry about the pause, there. . .

JACOB COAKLEY: You also have a website theatreforthefuture.com

JACOB COAKLEY: and are active in the 2 a.m. Theatre website.

JACOB COAKLEY: How have those projects affected your theatre-making?

JACOB COAKLEY: Are you able as a designer to put some of those ideas in play?

NICK KEENAN: Oh ya.

NICK KEENAN: The biggest change from making my thoughts about theater and my process transparent came from having to think through those thoughts and make them, em… less selfish, I guess.

NICK KEENAN: When you believe something to the world, you have to make sure it really matters to you before you say it. (Not the same rules when commenting on blogs, naturally)

NICK KEENAN: So it’s helped clarify how to articulate the process to myself, and that allows me to evaluate that process more objectively, I think, and get a lot more feedback which helps quicken development /e

NICK KEENAN: Thinking about one… I did this post on using qLab for multi-track mixing in the space which I did for a recent Rivendell show http://theaterforthefuture.com/multi-track-mixing-with-qlab-and-aud…

NICK KEENAN: And simply writing that post forced me to sort of codify how I would do that in future processes.

NICK KEENAN: I now try to mix in the space (rather than on Logic in my studio) whenever possible, because I know I’ll get better results.

NICK KEENAN: Blogging about the process forced me to create a system that incorporate that technique into my regular process /e

JACOB COAKLEY: very cool

JACOB COAKLEY: OK, it’s about 25 after, so I’m gonna throw the doors open to questions from everyone lurking about.

NICK KEENAN: Sweet!

JACOB COAKLEY: While they think of stuff, let me ask — how’d you get from Mass to Chicago?

NICK KEENAN: Via Dallas Theatre Center and Backstagejobs, actually. I landed an internship there, spent a year there in the Company Management department, and interacted with all the designers coming to town.

NICK KEENAN: I heard through many of them about the “godfathers” of Chicago sound – Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen – and the kind of theater being created there.

NICK KEENAN: I was young, didn’t really dig NYC, wanted to really dig into sound design, and moved after the internship.

NICK KEENAN: And – really luckily – the sound department at the Goodman had an overhire spot in the Sound Department right at that moment.

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: Okay, I’ve got one: Do you find yourself assuming you’ll use computers for your designs, or do you start with nothing and then wait until the design is forced into needing computers? I mean, I guess they’re sort of used by default now, but…

REBECCAZ: Hullo, Nick. Here’s a question for ye. Our sound designer moved away from Chicago but we still collaborated long distance on our last season. We’ll probably look for a local sound designer for our next season because we, of course, prefer …

REBECCAZ: … collaborating in person with our designer. Any advice for long distance collaborations in general?

NICK KEENAN: Chris: They are TOTALLY used by default now. Especially in the smaller venues where I design, the big expense is that there arent enough trained operators who can still nail a complex design on CD players.

NICK KEENAN: RebecChristopher Ashworth: Because of that enviromental texture thing I was talking about earlier, I don’t think you’re truly designing sound unless you show up and at least once hear how your work bounces around the space.

JACOB COAKLEY: Any more?

JACOB COAKLEY: Let me turn the questions around a bit and ask something of everyone else here — how could you use sound better in your shows? What would you need?

REBECCAZ: A local sound designer.

JACOB COAKLEY:

NICK KEENAN: An available local sound designer.

JACOB COAKLEY: Nick – correct me if I’m wrong, but did you work with Chicago Backstage Jobs? (Forgive me if I’ve got thename wrong)

KYLE HAMMAN: an available local sound designer who isn’t being pulled away by the myriad of other projects that they have booked in other theatres.

NICK KEENAN: e xactly, kyle.

NICK KEENAN: Yup, I ended up sitting next to patrick hudson at the Goodman who founded the site.

JACOB COAKLEY: note to anyone considering career to pay teh living wage — apparetnly sound designers are in high demand…

NICK KEENAN: I offered to help reprogram it to allow autoposting a few years ago, and that was my first big web project.

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: “What we need to use sound better” –> A space that isn’t actively polluted by uncontrolled neighboring sounds.

NICK KEENAN: It’s true: I think design in general is one of the quickest ways to actually get both a paying and artistic control in our business today… which is a little alarming to me

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: Why alarming?

NICK KEENAN: Chris: At New Leaf, we’re next to the zoo and a bus stop. When we’re not hearing traffic all day long, we’re surrounded by braying hyenas.

JACOB COAKLEY: LOL!

REBECCAZ: Which is totally cool, though, you must admit.

JACOB COAKLEY: So how do you deal with the hyenas?

NICK KEENAN: Adding low-frequency tones and rumbles to a lot of my work there is a direct response to this problem… You listen to the space, and you design for those parameters.

JACOB COAKLEY: CAN you?

SCOTTY ISERI: That demands a question: given how many shows one must do to make a career, is there an ideal number of shows? Do you like the balancing of projects or would you rather do just one show at a time?

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: That’s fascinating. Was wondering if you could try to design with unpredictable sound pollution in mind.

NICK KEENAN: I like doing two shows at a time – one that pays the bills, and one that I have a lot of artistic input into. That’s where web design and engineering come in for me…

NICK KEENAN: : In many theaters in chicago, the El runs overhead or underground (Chopin basement, for instance.) I totally try to reshape that noise into a workable motif if it makes sense in the play.

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: I love that.

REBECCAZ: Stage Left’s the same way, el wise. Whenever we have a train as an aspect of a script, we always like working there.

KYLE HAMMAN: that reminds me of a story i read about bono (i know. don’t judge.) and how when they are recording they do a tape test. they record to tape and drive around dublin listening to work out kinks. sound has to work in the place where you hear it.

NICK KEENAN: Scotty: And yes, one show never pays all the bills. Which is why many forces take us out of the game after a 7-10 year career.

JACOB COAKLEY: sigh…

JUSTIN ARGENIO: Nick, May I ask how you have found your artistic niche in New Leaf and Side Project?

NICK KEENAN: Kyle: That “car test” scene from “Once” is one of my faves. Usability testing is really missing from theater. Which is really weird, because other industries look to theater to know how to do it in a non-obnoxious way.

NICK KEENAN: If you’re always serving other visions, it’s hard to understand what’s important to you as an artist

NICK KEENAN: Kyle: I think we have become so focused on the play the play the play that we’ve lost touch with the audience and their total experience. (in general)

JACOB COAKLEY: That’s an awesome way to put it.

JACOB COAKLEY: Alright everyone — WE don’t have to end if Nick can stay, but it is 11:45, and he does have to pay the bills.

NICK KEENAN: I just talked with our AD Jess Hutchinson that we’re actually going to “stage” how we want the box office staff to interact with audience for our next NL play – I think that experience needs design, too.

JACOB COAKLEY: So, Nick – THANK YOU!

NICK KEENAN: I’m definitely good for a while. Thanks for having me, Jacob!

JACOB COAKLEY: Cool! I’m not showing you the door, just wanted to make sure you were appreciated!

JACOB COAKLEY: LEt’s keep going!

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: Yes, thanks Nick. And: really dig the observation about crafting the total experience.

JOE GRIFFIN: Nick, re: good point about EL bleed. You have to sometimes account for other environemtnal bleed–the band in the bar next door for example.

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: Sort of comes back to the dogfood question, I thiNick Keenan: how can you make yourself experience the same thing as your patrons? Even the edge-case stuff?

NICK KEENAN: By the way, ladies and gents: Chris Ashworth is the dude who created qLab. Which makes my life possible.

JOE GRIFFIN: Chris: thank you thank you thank you!

KYLE HAMMAN: people (even theatre people) often forget that everything has been designed. some of it is poor design but it all has design.

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: Nick also never exaggerates.

NICK KEENAN: Joe: Old steep space, huh.

NICK KEENAN: Chris: Never.

JOE GRIFFIN: Yup. Old Steep space.

REBECCAZ: Thanks, Chris. qLab is definitely going to find a place in our company soon.

NICK KEENAN: Kyle: exactly. It’s either designed with thought or without thought.

KYLE HAMMAN: thank you chris!

JACOB COAKLEY: In terms of audience experience — that’s been one of my big disconnects with the “support the playwright” thing — in my mind so many artistics and playwrights are writing “inside baseball” pieces, trying to make “art” they forget about the audience

JUSTIN ARGENIO: I’m sure Chris just got a wave of friend requests (me included)

JACOB COAKLEY: I used to joke that box offices were the happiest places on earth — until they ad to start actually selling tickets.

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: @Jacob: Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing.

JACOB COAKLEY: (And please keep in mind that I am a playwright, and have also worked in box offices.)

NICK KEENAN: So many of our patron experiences are traditional instead of designed… we implicitly ask them to “not look at” that part of the stage / lobby / play because we didn’t give it any thought during the process.

JOE GRIFFIN: Nick: in terms of mixing in the space, how willing do you find directors etc. to be in accommodating that?

NICK KEENAN: Jacob: Hilarious re: box office happy.

JACOB COAKLEY: ☺

NICK KEENAN: Joe: Directors LOVE it. it makes me agile. If I’ve prebuilt and preprogrammed enough, I can respond to a director note almost as fast as an actor.

NICK KEENAN: rather than going back to the studio and coming back the next day.

JUSTIN ARGENIO: Nick: How do you cope with the integrity of the designer vs. what the director, artistic director, producer wants?

JUSTIN ARGENIO: Especially if you disagree.

JOE GRIFFIN: Makes sense. so you have your Logic rig onsite then?

NICK KEENAN: Justin: It depends on what I can get away with. Which I think is true of all of us. It’s a game of “yes and.”

NICK KEENAN: If you as a designer cut off someone else’s process with an inflexible “No.” you’re cutting off the creative flow in the room. Poisonous.

JACOB COAKLEY: nods head.

JIM DAVIS: exactly, Nick. Exactly.

NICK KEENAN: Joe: I do have logic there, but I prebuild a ton of audio layers that I then mix in qLab. the link above explains how it’s done with using music as an example.

JACOB COAKLEY: here’s the link again: http://theaterforthefuture.com/multi-track-mixing-with-qlab-and-aud…

KYLE HAMMAN: does designing in the room depend on the system the theatre has in place? or do you bring in your own system each time?

JOE GRIFFIN: re: layers. Cool. I did a fiar bit of that on “Hopper.” checking link now. (thanks Jacob)

NICK KEENAN: Justin: so you redirect the velocity of a given idea. You find common vocabulary with found material – prototypes. You smile, nod, and try again.

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: Riffing on designing the complete experience: have you ever had the chance (or desire) to design the audio beyond the boundaries of the performance space and performance time? More than just the typical pre-show music?

NICK KEENAN: Kyle: I absolutely have to supplement the system I have in 80% of the theaters I work in. I often bring in the qLab computer and 3-4 additional speakers and amps. Gets expensive.

NICK KEENAN: But I can also use that gear to generate passive rental income as long as others take care of it.

JUSTIN ARGENIO: Nick: Do you often charge the theatre for the added equiptment?

JUSTIN ARGENIO: And how often do they say no?

NICK KEENAN: Chris: because we have a kind of “staging” room in New Leaf – a kind of two room lobby – I usually design different environments or cues. I think I’m gonna get more ambitious with that in the future though.

NICK KEENAN: New Leaf’s “The Man Who Was Thursday” was developed as a kind of theme-park-ride flow of audience rather than the typical Lobby / Box Office / take your seats flow. The Neo Futurists probably do this better than any theater I know…

NICK KEENAN: Justin: I often charge the theater when they are not providing the equipment, but 90% of the time at a discount. Theaters with budgets have the gear and they don’t need mine. I take that income / expense into account when choosing to take on a sho

KYLE HAMMAN: in the “design the experience” vein, how do you create systems that are solid enough to remain for more than one show but nimble enough to fit the artistic needs of each show?

NICK KEENAN: Follow up question for Chris / anyone: What world is “Preshow music” actually in? Some plays incorporate it into onstage radios / jukeboxes, but if they don’t… what does it mean?

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: Heh. A great question.

JOE GRIFFIN: For that reason I sometimes build preshow ambiences instead.

JACOB COAKLEY: I always just thought it was the stagehands’ mix tape?

JACOB COAKLEY:

NICK KEENAN: Kyle: This really depends on the layout of the space and the layout of the audience. In small venues, I rehang and rerun every speaker and line to get exactly the shape I want.

NICK KEENAN: Jacob: Or the directors. Which is worse, IMHO.

JACOB COAKLEY: ☺

JACOB COAKLEY: Generally when I was designing sound, the pre-show music wasn’t a part of the world of the play, as much as it was the head space I wanted teh audience in.

JACOB COAKLEY: For example, an Othello I did stripped away layers of sound throughout the show.

NICK KEENAN: That’s all just to say: We’re all learning as artists together how sound should be used in theater. We don’t know… we get to experiment.

JACOB COAKLEY: So what started as mash-ups in pre-show — highly produced stuff. ended with REznore-like tones.

JACOB COAKLEY: And hooray for experiments. . .

NICK KEENAN: Jacob: Awesome. So that idea can be further developed: what is the shape of that headspace? Does the audience leave one world, pass through a barrier, and enter the world of the play? How do those worlds interact?

KYLE HAMMAN: have you (on anyone here) every heard of or done a post show sound? like a dessert or after dinner cocktail so to speak?

JUSTIN ARGENIO: Where so you stop designig though, if the design moves out into the lobby, what’s to stop it from moving out of the theatre into the parking lot. What would be the prverbial line in the sand before it gets to be too much?

JOE GRIFFIN: Kyle: I’ve done postshow a few times.

NICK KEENAN: Kyle: Absolutely. That’s even more tricky… at the end of the show, each audience member has a different emotional reaction to the play, and that’s your gift to them. You can wipe that all away with the wrong choice.

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: Fascinating point.

JOE GRIFFIN: @Nick: bingo. You’re in the position of dictating how they should feel. On at least one show, what the director wanted for post show felt very forced…

NICK KEENAN: Justin: I totally just came from this talk on audience experience development, if you couldn’t tell. The trick is that there isn’t a line – you can design how the experience fades in from the audience’s life before they parked their car.

NICK KEENAN: I think the line is the points where you control the interaction: Outside the theater, entering the theater, presenting your ticket: these are all ritual experiences that can be made surprising, confusing, or euphoric through design choices.

JACOB COAKLEY: I’m thinking of Cirque installed shows — where as soon as you hit the lobby, you’re in their world, down to ticket-takers in character. . .

KYLE HAMMAN: ritual. yes.

NICK KEENAN: “the bathrooms are down the hall to the right.” AWOOOGA.

REBECCAZ: =)

KYLE HAMMAN: H ere’s your program.” zoinks!

JOE GRIFFIN: “please turn off your celphone.” BLAM!

NICK KEENAN: Jacob: And you can also take it too far, right? It can be annoying if it’s too self-conscious or it makes the audience feel self conscious? Many designers I know consider the best reviews the ones where their contribution is not mentioned.

JACOB COAKLEY: The whole “good design is easily noticed, great design isn’t even seen.”

JOE GRIFFIN: “Hey, I saw a review of your show…they didn’t mention you at all…GREAT JOB!”

KYLE HAMMAN: not to harp on post show but too many times the ritual for aftershow is house lights thrown on and people standing up looking at each other and wondering…how do we talk about what we just saw. can the sound design or even light design give them..

KYLE HAMMAN: a conversation starter?

JACOB COAKLEY: It’s funny, b/c we had KEvin Adams — LD for Spring Awakening — on here a couple weeks back, and he HATES that. Thinks design can absolutely be part of teh conversation, and really push the world of the play.

JOE GRIFFIN: though haven’t we already disrupted the “world” with the curtain call?

JOE GRIFFIN: though haven’t we already disrupted the “world” with the curtain call?

NICK KEENAN: Kyle: Absolutely. That ritual is disorienting too. You kind of HAVE to choose to do something. Maybe “don’t rush to the parking lot! Valet for everyone!”

JOE GRIFFIN: double post, sorry.

JACOB COAKLEY: Kyle: intresting question. I know a lot of people LOATHE “talkbacks” but they’re coming in style as a way to give people a forum to talk about something, adn encourage word of mouth marketing.

NICK KEENAN: Jacob: One idea that we’ve been experimenting with is the low-pressure “let’s go out for a beer / coffee / dessert” after show – which you can do with smaller houses.

NICK KEENAN: Those talkbacks really cook, because it’s collaborative and community-driven rather than confrontational.

KYLE HAMMAN: we are heavily trying to get people to hang out in our bar after the show but it’s a ritual change that is needed. or training for a new ritual.

NICK KEENAN: If you look at how most theaters design talkbacks currently, they literally interrupt the emotional flow of the evening, shine a harsh light on the audience, and interrogate them. It’s like low-grade Guantanamo.

NICK KEENAN: Kyle: The craziest thing I had to learn as a designer is how to design for older audiences and how to design for younger audiences. I approach each project with a different set of ears.

KYLE HAMMAN: @nick: yes- those are the most engaging conversations. the ones where people have had 5-10 minutes away from it and then come back to talk about it. but how can you design that 5-10 min.?

NICK KEENAN: Folks with 9pm bedtimes just won’t go out after a play. Can’t do it. But you CAN get them back for a weekend brunch. Design starts with “who is using this?”

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: And if you CAN design that 5-10 minutes into it, how much of a competitive advantage has that become for you?

JACOB COAKLEY: Good point, Nick — b/c that was my first question — how do you get people who need to spell the babysitter to come?

LESLIE BERMAN: My local non-profit community theater does talkbacks because they get funding if they do. Different audiences love them or hate them. Definitely depends on the mood at the curtain. They always have pre- and post-show music related to the show.

NICK KEENAN: Kyle / Chris: Yes. You just blew my mind. You need an emotional palette cleanser. For us, it was walking outside with the audience to the cafe / bar (we have a younger crowd, and we WANT a younger crowd)

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: Or, to put it less competitively, how much additional value have you added to the experience.

KYLE HAMMAN: “who is using this?” -thank you for that.

LESLIE BERMAN: We have a cafe/bar that stays open until the last audience member leaves the building. That sparks some chatter. But if the show is heavy, and the audience is silent when they exit the theater, they don’t want to hang around, they want to be alone.

JOE GRIFFIN: Nick: is the invitation to the cafe/bar stated in some specific way so that the entire audience gets it?

NICK KEENAN: That walk is processing time. We talk with ourselves. We celebrate little in-joke moments of the play. We watch our audience connect with their friends and process it.

JACOB COAKLEY: Nick: re walk to bar, something else NeoFuturists are good at.

LESLIE BERMAN: Everyone’s invited by personal stage manager announcement before the opening curtain, during the turn off your cellphone talk.

JOE GRIFFIN: @Leslie-good plan.

LESLIE BERMAN: We also do an opening night reception in the bar, for audience to meet actors and crew, and specifically invite audience to stay for it.

NICK KEENAN: Joe: Yup. depending on show content (because Leslie is right on about heavy shows), we might announce before the event in the ticket confirm, we might have a box office invite, or we might rally crowd during curtain call with a “huzzah!”

JOE GRIFFIN: sounds good.

JOE GRIFFIN: is the entire cast generally down with the hanging-out, or are they required to attend? I’ve been to many talkbacks where you see 4-5 cast members stroll by with coats and bags on their way out.

JACOB COAKLEY: Seems to be winding down…

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: I love that in this discussion sound design has served as a framework for really designing the whole experience. That pretty much sums up the magic of Nick Keenan, don’t it?

JACOB COAKLEY:

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: Note to powers that be: file this thread at the 2 am theater site.

KYLE HAMMAN: ☺

JACOB COAKLEY: That’s why he’s a ninja…

NICK KEENAN: Chris: Everything affects everything else. By studying marketing, I’m a better sound designer. Truth.

LESLIE BERMAN: Our physical space naturally invites the audience to stay, because you have to pass through the bar/cafe to leave the building. It’s a combined lobby/bar/cafe/box office area, with a big central space that has tables and chairs and enough space for

LESLIE BERMAN: more than 60 people to stand around.

JACOB COAKLEY: Leslie – where is your space?

JACOB COAKLEY: Where do you wrok/create?

KYLE HAMMAN: “wrok”=fortunate typo

LESLIE BERMAN: the lead actors, director and designers are required to do the talkback. other cast members drift in or away depending on their preferences.

NICK KEENAN: Thanks all. I think with this number of geniuses, we can do some pretty kick ass things.

LESLIE BERMAN: It’s in Lake Charles Louisiana, The Lake Charles Little Theatre.

JOE GRIFFIN: Nick, Jacob, everyone…thanks for doing this. I gotta go do some ballerina foley now…

LESLIE BERMAN: I really have enjoyed this and got some good ideas for future shows.

JACOB COAKLEY: OK, I *really* think we should let Nick get back to his day job — or at the very least . . . me.

JACOB COAKLEY: ☺

NICK KEENAN: Have fun all!

REBECCAZ: Thanks, Nick. This has been great. Thanks, Jacob, as well, for being a great host.

JIM DAVIS: Thanks Nic

JACOB COAKLEY: I’ll have a transcript up soon here — and Nick, I’ll also send one your way, too.

CHRISTOPHER ASHWORTH: Thanks Nick

KYLE HAMMAN: thanks, nick and all!

LESLIE BERMAN: thanks.

JACOB COAKLEY: Thanks, Nick, and thanks for eveyrone for participating!

2am. You’re wondering why this is called 2am.  What does that have to do with theatre?

2am is when the ideas start to flow.

The other week, over on Twitter, a group of theatre folk started talking, brainstorming, tossing out ideas and testing to see how they’d float.  Or if they’d float at all.  And even though it was late, the conversation kept going.  By the time I went to bed, it had been about three and a half hours beyond the point when I said, good night, I’m going to bed.  It was one of those conversations.

Free of ego, free of distraction, we were all able to talk freely about our ideas and each others’.  It was refreshing.

If you’re curious to see what it was all about, click over here to Nick Keenan’s blog post, where he’s collected as many threads of the initial 2am conversations as he could find and put them together in some semblance of order. (Hopefully, we’ll archive that over here as well…)

We’ve continued the dialogue since then, using the hashtag #2am, although as you can see from a simple search or a glance at our sidebar, a lot of other folks are using the same tag as well. So from here forward, I propose we use #2amt when tweeting, adding the t for theatre. That’s only four characters out of your 140, which saves a lot of space. Why? Because nobody else is using that tag, and no one else would need or want to.

Now we have this website, where we can continue the conversation as needed. We’ll post links to interesting theatre blog posts, we’ll hopefully have interesting posts here as well, and we’ll keep track of the 2am comments to come…

We’ll also be leaving this post as the first one for a little while, so everyone can see what this site’s about.

Are we going to change the world and save theatre? I don’t know. It all depends on your perspective. Are we too late? Or are we just waking up?