A large-scale test of using the internet for performance
This past Monday, I was privileged to be working part of the national simulstaging of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later, An Epilogue. Over 150 theatres across the US and around the world (in fact, more than were listed on the website) took part in this event, which included many of them starting their performances in sync with the “lead” performance at The Lincoln Center. The Lincoln Center provided a live internet feed of the opening remarks and greetings, as well as of the Twitter based question and answer session following the performance.
Prior to the event, tests were done for Lincoln Center and for participating theatres. Days before, and day of, a live feed of rehearsals was provided to allow theatres to test their connections, as well as set video and sound levels. Coordination was handled via Twitter accounts and “hashtags” for trending topics, allowing each theatre to get information, as well as ask questions if needed.
All in all, the event went relatively smoothly. There were the expected delays in getting started, owing to different sized houses at each venue, as well as the sudden load on the server providing video when everyone finally connected at once. The use of Twitter, as opposed to live chat, or live audio chat, allowed the Lincoln Center techs to announce information to the participating theatres without being overwhelmed with hundreds of “can you hear me?” or “what’s going on?” questions. At intermission, it was interesting to see which theatres got there earlier than Lincoln Center, and which ones started intermission later. My theatre started intermission about 5-8 minutes after Lincoln Center, yet due to the house size difference (more people to get back in their seats at Lincoln Center) we ended up starting Act II ahead of them.
The two main worry points for syncing up were the top of the show, and the question and answer session at the end. Top of show was easier, as we had an estimated start time plus the Twitter feed. But syncing up with the question and answer session was dependent on ending the performance before, or at the same time, as Lincoln Center. With no performance feed from NY, and no desire to “rush” the performers just so we can go to video (plus no way to tell them mid-performance, anyway), we were dependent on the Twitter updates. This was complicated by the fact that they gave out updates as the script page number they were on, but other theatres may not have the same page numbers for a given section of the script.
I have to give a lot of credit to the Lincoln Center staff, as well as Tectonic Theatre Project, for pulling this off. My hat goes off to @bmcclcinc for keeping us up to date, and remaining calm under what had to be tremendous pressure.
To view the Twitter communications: (please do not bother anyone who posted to these feeds)
#laramietech: The tech feed for everyone running the event, lead by Tectonic Theatre and @bmcclcinc
#laramie10: The general feed for the event, still getting new posts
@laramieQA: The account that questions were sent to for the live question and answer session. No responses were sent from that address, so don’t bother “following” it.
A few things I observed from this use of the current technology:
1. If internet based communications are to be used, as well as internet based media, then multiple, separate, internet lines need to be provided for this purpose. In our case, we had two, plus cellular networks. Once line for the video feed, the other for Twitter feed and backup for the video line. We also had at least 3 smartphones available checking Twitter for the latest tech updates from NYC.
2. Relying solely on Twitter, or any single service, for an event of this scale was extremely risky. If a major world event occurred, or simply a bug popped up in the Twitter servers, Twitter could have gone down from the strain, and we would have had no way of communicating. A secondary system should be used for future events of this type, and not only publicized to the participants, but updates posted to both systems simultaneously. That way if one goes down, everyone can switch over without waiting to be told.
3. Everyone needs to be on the same page. The technical staff running the show in each venue should all know which feeds are being monitored for info. With so much riding getting information in a timely manner, relying on just one person to check/get updates is foolhardy. In some cases, event staff had to search Twitter themselves to find the feeds they needed, instead of being informed about each feed in advance.
4. Have a backup plan. “Oh, we’ll just find out from Twitter” doesn’t cut it when you have 800 people wondering what is going on. Have plans to vamp for time, and what the host will talk about while vamping for time. Also figure out a way to communicate with the host when they are onstage, so they know what is going on while a problem is being resolved.
5. For those that are the “lead” theatre: Keep someone on the Twitter (or whichever service) account at all times, and keep them sending out updates. In this case, the information we received was great. But it wasn’t always timely (for us). Continuous updates on time, technical issues, and whatnot, keep everyone else down the line calm, and informed. When the tech feed goes silent, the concern rises that there is an internet issue somewhere.
One last thing: The interactive map showing which theatres were taking part was nice. But for an event so dependent on the internet, it was discouraging to discover that it was not up-to-date. For instance, it was quite a surprise to discover, through the Twitter feed, that Loyola University in Chicago was also presenting the performance, as they were not listed on the website. This would have been of great help to potential audience members trying to find a nearby venue to experience this event. I am concerned that many hundreds, if not thousands, of interested people were unable to see a production simply because the publicized website did not list it. If you are aware of a theatre or group that participated in Monday night’s event, but was not listed on the website, please let me know in the comments.
Any criticisms I may have made do not in any way mean that this was not a successful event. I believe it was an incredible success not only for it’s cause, but also for large scale event staging. Every live performance is a learning experience, and this one was groundbreaking both on an artistic, and technical stagecraft level. It was a history making event on both sides of the curtain.
Hudson & Gaines
[...] Twitter was used to sync up over 100 theatres for a simulcast and simul-staging of The Laramie Project: Epilogue. [...]