The Mammoth in the room

Most playwrights working today have probably had this thought:

“I wonder if I could write a play that was somehow interactive, that used social media in a way that created instant feedback on what was happening onstage.”

There are all sorts of intriguing possibilities:

The audience could Facebook who they think is the murderer in a mystery, and so affect the end: a new-tech version of Ayn Rand’s Night of January 16.

Or audience members might tweet what the play was making them think or feel, and have their thoughts be projected on the scrim in real time.

In almost any case, the playwright would cede some control and, crucially, some attention.

Playwrights are used to giving up control—to designers, actors, and directors. But adding, say, Twitter, to the mix adds a level of audience distraction that might not be welcome.

Which brings us to the experiment at the well-regarded Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC. In an effort to add transparency to their artistic process, the theatre decided to allow three of its Twitter followers  to attend the first, technical and final dress rehearsals of Jason Grote’s new play, Civilization (all you can eat.)

Alas, this decision was made without the playwright’s consent.

There are a couple of things to consider here in addition to that (apologized for) mistake.

First, who wants transparency in rehearsals?

Second, rehearsing can be a delicate process. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which tweets about the form or content of the rehearsals wouldn’t be disruptive in some way.

My guess is that in a flush of enthusiasm, Woolly Mammoth made a too-quick, wrongheaded decision. And who among us hasn’t done that?

I’ve never heard any but good things about Woolly Mammoth. And I like it that they’re next show is Arias with a Twist, which I declared The Best Play in the Universe (2010).

Meanwhile, the playwright, Jason Grote, behaved perfectly. He objected to but didn’t attempt to stop this experiment.  He also said exactly the right thing, which is that to use Twitter properly with a play, you’d “need to integrate it right from conception.”

Most plays, including Civilization (all you can eat) are written with an expectation, or at least a desire for, full audience attention.

Whether as novelty or something more permanent, plays that take advantage of electronic interactivity are on the way.  But when they arrive, it’ll be because the playwrights designed them that way.