Zoom Theater @ Theatre Communications Group
Theatre Communications Group asked me to speak at their June (virtual) conference, entitled Re:Emergence. I quickly realized that many of the panels and speeches were either about theater on video conferencing platforms (like Zoom) or expensive technologies that denied access for most creators. I politely asked if I could scrap my “speech” and instead attempt to devise a work of theater using ubiquitous live-streaming tools.
After a decade of producing digital content for brands, networks and creators, I took for granted the lessons and toolkit the online community has generously cultivated to empower young creatives. In fifteen minutes, I wanted to give every artist in the world access to five key gifts:
FREE TOOLS
SYNCHRONUS EXPERIENCE
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
AUDIENCE RETENTION
MONETIZATION
I encountered several discoveries while designing this presentation. My original slides and overlays were much more polished, pulling from expensive stock images and fancy graphics. However early feedback suggested that it didn’t feel “live” because it seemed almost too “slick” and “edited.” So instead I used hand-drawn title cards and pictures of my family pets to subtly highlight the DIY nature of the whole talk.
I had also become very accustomed to a direct address delivery style, looking straight into the camera, like a vlog. However, I received feedback that this made the presentation feel somewhat “intense” and less authentic.
After much reflection, I realized that what I enjoyed about live performance was the tension of knowing the performer might look directly at me at any moment, but was taking in the entire audience. So many late night shows and video chats felt “empty” because it was obvious the performer was alone with a camera. So the actor in me pretended I was talking to a crowd, taking in an imaginary room, motivating my performance to different sides and angles of the lens. This allowed the moments of direct address to feel more personal, purposeful, intimate.
Ironically, the entire conference was held over Zoom, which required streaming my presentation into video chat. At this time, OBS did not include a native “virtual camera” so I downloaded a third party plug and virtual audio cables to route the audio and video from Open Broadcaster Software into Zoom. This was a painstaking process and I released a YouTube tutorial explaining the process (that quickly became obsolete).
UPDATE: In 2021, the Boston Public School system hired me to give a crash course in OBS and virtual theater to a group of teachers. I released my step-by-step lesson plan to allow anyone to replicate my TCG talk using open source tools.