#currentgood

What Theatre is Good For

In previous iterations, I had focused on game mechanics. In 2013, I developed a tabletop role-playing game set within the world of the Current:Good story and, in the theatrical workshop, I had even provided game-like interfaces that allowed audience members to interact directly with characters in the story world. In this new iteration, though, I moved away from that and toward a system in which audience members follow avatars through a set of adventures.

One of the main reasons for this is that I feel it leans too far into the gameplay space and activating the problem-solving, critical part of the brain. While I want this to some degree, I also want periods in which the audience can lean back and empathize with characters. This is a common problem we face in interactive work. I think it is very difficult for people to “interact” and empathize at the same time. Those things require two separate parts of the brain, so I wanted distinct separation between the periods in which each activity took place.

Audience members do have choice points that require them to stop, collaborate on decisions, and use that problem solving portion of their brains, but those are separate from the points where the audience sits back and watches the results of their choices play out in what I hope are engaging, well-written scenes.

Theatre is really good for creating empathy through verbal storytelling and verbal communication between human beings, so I want to allow it to be good at that in Current:Good.

Audience Choice

Character is the sum total of a person’s actions. 

I kept this statement pinned to a board over my desk during the writing process. This principle drove the decisions around interaction and audience choice. Similar to what we see in many video games, I wanted the audience's choices to create a unique character in each performance as their avatar proceeds through the narrative. These choices might make a character kinder or more of a jerk. And, who this character is will influence how they behave, how strong they are, how trustworthy, etc. when we reach the last act of the piece. To me, this is one of the most powerful ideas in Current:Good. I like the idea that audience members can claim ownership over a specific performance because that performance is customized based on their input.

The way it works in this version of Current:Good is that, at key moments in the narrative, the audience is offered choices. Originally, I had planned on offering three choices, but due to time limitations leading up to the workshop I was only able to create two. However, this turned out to be the perfect number: two fit the narrative better than three and offered a perfect amount of choice to the audience.

It was interesting to watch audiences figure out how to collaborate on the choices. They are given no direction, and the choices they are offered might be considered...vague.

One group started a chant, which grew until it consumed all audience members and they were unanimous in their decision.

There was another point where a group had to wait because one of the scenes was longer than the others. This was a mistake that might become a feature because what we saw were audience groups using that period of time to begin strategizing about how they would vote in the next scene. This is the kind of emergent collaboration I love to see, so we’ll be looking for more opportunities for audiences to engage in it.

One final lesson was that I need to ensure that all choice points fall on emotional cliff-hangers. Most do now, but a few don’t. This mechanic really kicks into high gear when the audience is sucked into a scene and hanging on the actors’ every word, and then suddenly we spring the choice on them. So I’ll be going through the scripts to make sure all of the choice points fall at such moments.

Interface

One of the things I’m always looking for in an interactive project is what I’m calling the “interface”. I don’t mean what most people mean by this. I’m not talking about “UX”. What I mean is the means by which the audience interacts with the fictional world. Another way to phrase it is the role the audience plays in the fictional world.

For instance, in The Lost Children, the “interface” is a cult recruiting event. It is a public facing event put on by the fictional cult, and it makes perfect sense for the audience to take on the role of attendees at such an event.

Current:Good is set in a sort of Steampunk alternate reality that does not have any immediate connection point with ours. There is no way to justify us showing up to this world as audience members from 2014.

In the 2013 Current:Good workshop, I solved this problem by creating a series of physical interfaces for interacting with the world; basically physical game controllers. This had some advantages but overall was too clunky and too literal for my tastes.

For the 2014 workshop, I instead used a metaphor. The interface is the setting. I originally used the metaphor of a museum, but the museum didn’t fully work for narrative reasons.

The next and final choice I made was a carnival. What I like about the carnival as interface is, as I said, it’s perfectly natural for us to attend one. We go to carnivals all the time, and we know how to interact with carnivals.

Without going too much into the story, the carnival also serves narrative functions for me. There is a slight hint of danger in carnivals. There is also a hint that you’re being lied to, being taken for a ride, being fooled. Carnivals always over-sell their attractions. These all play into the feeling I want the audience to have as they enter the world of Current:Good: the increasing feeling that something just is not right here.

Finally, a carnival lends a sense of play and a sense of “putting on a show” I’m looking for in Current:Good. It allows us to really embrace the artifice of theatre. It also makes a good space for something else I’ve been focusing on for some time, which is “building spaces where audiences can play”. I want the audience to feel like they genuinely are part of the show, and I want them to feel like they can be free to play in this space.

All of these things make this metaphor a really good interface to this world.

I know that what I’m saying may mean that every piece I make must have a social, or public, aspect in order to justify this idea of the “interface”. Maybe I’ll relax about that in the future, but I’m comfortable with it now as I continue to be interested in the theatre we create in everyday life. This might be a carnival, or it might be a church service, or a birthday party. These kinds of theatre serve nicely as interfaces to fictional worlds. 

A non-linear first act

I am continuing the idea I started with The Lost Children of a non-linear first act. I move a good deal of exposition and back story to a collection of artifacts and smaller, more intimate theatrical experiences, which audience members can take in as they please.

For the 2014 Current:Good, this had mixed success. I think the information was too dense, and the artifacts I created for a workshop were too inadequate.

Talking to my co-director, Jamie Watkins, after the workshop, we agreed that the audience probably needs some more onboarding as they come into the space. This, too, is a common element in video games. Players are typically lead through a series of easy tasks so that they might learn how the controls work, how tools and weapons work, etc. We can do a better job of educating the audience about what’s expected of them in Act I.

I mostly thought this would be handled by the “Ringleader” character, instructing audience members on what to do (in a repeating manner), but it wasn’t enough, so we’re starting to brainstorm some better elements for the next iteration. This may involve bringing in a visual artist to help. 

Wrap up

In general, we all felt like this workshop was a success. We tested out a number of audience interactions and narrative elements and came away with some specific actions for the next (and hopefully final) iteration.

I’d also like to acknowledge the fact that this level of work would not be possible without the support of genuine professionals. Not only a company like Epic, which is passionate about supporting artists both with finances and resources, but my director and actors as well. I threw all of them into the deep end with this piece, and they all jumped in feet first. I had no idea if the cast would be able to perform these roles or if the director would be able to grasp the absurdity I wanted in the scenes, but that’s what makes them pros. They went for it, trusted in the work, and weren’t afraid to look silly if it all exploded in our faces.

Thanks to you all."