Presentation Type
Creative Process Analysis
Release Option
Event
Description
In June of 2020 it was very clear that the Theatre department at Georgia Southern University would not be able to produce and perform the usual season of a live play and musical that has happened every year. Even if actors remained 6 feet apart on stage, the close quarters of cast and crew backstage would be irresponsible pandemic behavior as would seating an audience in the Theatre. Broadway, the pinnacle of the Theatre world was at that time not opening until January of 2021. Closure wreaked havoc on all small regional theatres and ours at school was no exception. The choice facing the Theatre program was to do nothing or do something, discover a new way of producing Theatre. I was approached by my Professor Pam Sears to direct a show that would be filmed over zoom, and then be live streamed over the platform Vimeo. Starting from finding a suitable play to costumes, staging, rehearsals, the challenge of technology all through the first few weeks of an uncertain semester came with many challenges. Through this first time process it felt as if a new process was developing, one that perhaps could be repeated if the pandemic kept our Theatre dark. While our goal was to entertain and share stories as we would do in a live environment, we were able to discover mistakes, moments of brilliance and clear guidelines on how we could do this again.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Faculty Mentor
Prof. Pamela Sears
Department of Primary Presenter's Major
Department of Communication Arts
Primary Presenter's Major(s)
Theatre
Location
Virtual Symposium
Symposium Year
2021
Pandemic Productions, Theatre through Zoom
Virtual Symposium
