Anyone for Live Theatre?

I've been tinkering with the Idea of a Live Theatre Group (The Second Life Royal Shakespreare Company, or something like that). I've been working on a Large, but Mobile Theatre building, and working out a few of the technical problem in performing live (Set changes, Costuming, sound systems Etc.).
What i really want to Know.
Are there people out there Interested in Joining and Committing to a Live Theatre group, and are there people willing to allow space on their land for One or two days so the theatre can be set up, and one or two performances done?

I have no Hard schedule as yet, But i would like to know how much Interest there would be in such a venture and perhaps speak to some Like Minded people.

Angel.

My venue can host a theatre event, please contact me, i can rework the space to accomodate....Vieux Hall.

I've heard of plays being done in SL before. In fact, I noticed a casting call for Romeo and Juliet the other day...

anyway....

There's a zillion ways to make this idea really suck... but if you can pull it off, it'd be kickass.

The first recommendation is have all the lines streamed.. not typed... then the AV is controlled by a different person.... so basically someone talks, then someone else does the movements.

2nd recommendation is to practice! Make everything exact and precise. Sloppin it together is verrrry boring for the audience. Make sure all the voice actors are committing to the roles... make sure all the AV controllers are prepared with precise blocking.

Last I checked, RenFaire Island had a theatre set up (I'm pretty sure it's a replica of the Globe). Not sure who to contact about usage, but it's a great space. I love the idea of live theatre in SL - people are right in saying that it'll be a lot of work but I think it's worth a shot. I'd love to hear your ideas - if you like, PM me and we'll have a chat inworld.

Cheers!

Great idea!

You could simplify it by making it a bit like Shakespeare's Globe - no set changes needed, no lighting cues, just acting and action.

I wuite like the idea of it being slapdash, actually. You could put in general rules for movement (like - big speech, stand at front, if two are in dialogue then face each other at front, if there is a 3-way exchange then triangulate).

I think you should also have a prompt to step in if necessary - otherwise you could be stuck in a longeur while Ophelia has nipped to the toilet.

I'd be happy to be involved, pref as a actress, though am on euro time.

I am a UK based theatre director and composer and quite new to SL. I would be happy to be involved and may have other ideas that could be discussed such as touring small two-handers to private events, holding conpetitions for new writing in SL etc. I have a pretty large plot with space and happy to discuss all possibilities. Maybe we should start a group?
Just let me know if there is anything I can do.

It sounds a good idea to me...

Also i like to hear from you when you going to do this....
We are working on something we can use here

what?
hehe wont say till you contact me ingame...

Plz im Maurice Rodgers

Wow, a live theatre would be awesome. I would love to watch such performances.

This would be so amazing! We would need costumers, scripters, oh god it would be involved. But then again, how many people would actually come to see it? And how many could the sim even support? Seems like a good idea, and if we could gather enough public interest, I would be very interested in scripting, acting, and some other stuff.

That is an excellent idea! Not only is it interactive but it's one of the most creative things I've yet to experience, which only helps get me anxious. It will defenitely be a demanding task that will more than likely involve serious resources and talented/skilled individual's but if it can be pulled off as tandino said:

"it'd be kickass."

I have been musing on the idea of theatre in SL since I got here last February. Curiously enough, I started up a group only last night to see if there are other like minded folk out there. Performance and Writing Group (open membership). I run the Writing and Performance Centre on Info Island II - and would be very happy to host a meeting of anyone interested no matter where it ends up.

Back in Summer of 2000 I did a play on the Internet involving MOO sites - remember them? The cast were made up of actors from Canada, US and the UK. We rehearsed once a week for about three months (some were new to the technology). We performed the play in the AtheMOO three times to cover time zones. What surprised me, and really shouldn't have, was the cultural implications of performing to a global audience. One of the best things that the AtheMOO had was the Kafka house, a project called MetaMOOphosis, which was designed by a user called RickS. I pray every day that I'll run into him somewhere in Second Life. In the entrance of the Kafka house was a closet containing scripted costumes that you could take out and wear, you could then either interact with other members of the AtheMOO making it up as you went along or retrieving one of the random lines of dialogue embedded into the costume you were wearing.

However, I'd be deeply interested in theatre written specifically for a Second Life type environment. So please do count me in.

Deidru Valentine

so - what play are we doing? when are we doing it?

can we get the stream to stream 5-10 people at the same time? that would be cool.

-Dann

I'm a company member of Rude Guerrilla Theater in Orange County, CA (acting, writing, directing, etc) and would be interested in participating. Please let me know if something comes up.

I am also willing to lend a hand, I am a RL Architect currently working on a portfolio of structures that I intend to resell in SL , but I would be glad to dedicate some time to putting the actual set(s) up, totally commision free (I am a patron of the arts)! Their are a few other minor details that I would like to discuss further if anyone is intrested in obtaining my services, just IM me in game or email me at [email]Kepstercure@comcast.net[/email].

i am also a thesbian (or used to be). Now don't get me wrong, this idea is groundbreaking and innovative.... but at the same time, will it really be that interesting and entertaining?

The purpose of RL theatre is to get a live, present feeling. A sense (for the audience) that the actors are right there in front of you, and its live, and in the moment. There is a sense of excitement, of energy, and of humanism. There is a connection with the audience and the actors. there is a draw of energy and emotion from one another

To me, it seems like a play in SL would be more like live tv or radio show rather than theatre. It would also feel more like a skit than a theatre performance. the most important aspect of live theatre is the emotion and feeling. I would have trouble picking that up from animations on an avatar. given, the voices could definitely perform the piece well....

I'm not trying to be negative... I'm actually quite fond of the SL theatre idea.... but my feelings are that we should use SL as an advantage rather than an obstacle. Picking something like shakespeare to do is just going to be bad theatre....

Perhaps these ideas might work (and these are all my theories):

I think comedy would work much better than drama in SL. In SL, there can be physical comedy, audible comedy, and sight gags. SL can be an advantage in this aspect. With a drama in SL, the emotion wouldn't be there.

I think scenes, or sketches would work better than a full length play. This way, the audience would see a variety of options in the performance... not a 2 hour long play about the same thing.

Perhaps improv might work well.

Perhaps writing a new original play ABOUT life in SL may be more effective that a RL piece. If we're in SL, why not perform a play about SL life? I think the "shakespeare of SL" would be much better than shakespeare.

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SL theatre could be huge... it just has to be done right.... having tons of people invest time and commitment to perform something that just doesn't work just isn't worth it. Make sure the ideas work and it actually is good... instead of just trying to pull something off that everyone knows during rehersals doesn't work.

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I'm potentially interested in being a part of this. I would be best at writing and directing a scene. If anyone else wants to write a scene, perhaps we can create a scene night?

Anyone knows what has happened to idea? Did it produce anything? I am also more then interested to participate although i dont have RL theatre experience but hey this is place to test new things and experience new.

I have been talking about Second Live to a person who has theater experience. She has looked around SL and not found any activity. She wants to start something. I intend to work with her on this. I have an island with venues that could be used as sets. I have contacts with several people who have professional theater/tv experience. And with people who varied exxperience in writing for TV performances. I think we could get some advice and help from these people.

I have a number of videos on YouTube. Most of them are improptu performances. This ona was recorded live (voice over Skype).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI2ijDn5A7o

The main scene in this was taken live, impromptu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKRTqbaucQc
I liked that scene so much I threw away the shooting script and rewrote the story.

This was pure live and impromptu:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkUEr88uR1k
except, of course, for the VO.

If people produce good. short performances, I would be ready to put them in a video and post them on YouTube. They would not ne live there, but they would be in your portfolio.

If you are intersted in this activity, post here and I will start organizing a group inworld.

TM

I would not only love to attend a live theatre performance, I would PAY to see one!! If its doable, I think it would be great!!

Not just see. Hear live actors. The Lindens say they expect to have voice in the First Looks Viewerin April.
TM

I'm interested in hearing from anyone who does make this work. I've been approached by several first life acting troupes about putting on productions at the Opera House on my Intemptesta Nox SIM.

In the past this was difficult to accomodate because my shops were also on the same SIM, and shutting down for a large-scale performance created problems. However, my partner and I are adding new SIMs to our continent and converting Nox to an events-only space, so we'll be able to better accomodate things like this in the weeks ahead.

I've had an off-broadway group ask about doing a Gilbert & Sullivan in the space, and like others in this thread, I'm scratching my head about how this will be possible, but tickled pink at the idea of it.

There's no lack of innovation in the SL community.

Sue Stonebender

One might be able to hold a voice chat theater experiment using the voice chat beta.

As i IM to Thinker i am also interested to participate anyway i can.

I have also thought about voice chat system as a good way to produce theatre. I think stand up comedy will get more from it since you can hear audience comments and it lag is not bad so it is possible to time your performance (streaming produces some lag)

I have been also thinking that maybe its possible to mix several voices for the play before act and record them (Sky? MS Messanger?) and then act on stage and voice stream is "playback"

How about if we have a planning meeting in SL? Sunday or friday would suit me best.

I will send friend offers to the posters on this thread who seem actively interested. Another person who is interested, but has not posted on this thread is WESTWIND Ackland .

I hope people interested in the objectives we are discussing form links with each other.

I will confer with people inworld to schedule a Skype. planning meeting. (I will not try to hold a meeting in IM. ) To participate, people would have to have Skype installed and operating. Skype is free, works on both Mac and PC. You can download it from:
http://www.skype.com/download/
I can host a conference call with least 9 other people.

No point in having a meeting w/o an agenda, so lets start deveoping an agenda. My inpression is that we will need several meetings before we are finished. I will post again shortly to begn developing the agenda.

i'd be interested in helping with sets...i have a BA in set design

Audio prep. I can mix and format an audio file, including multiple voice clips and sound effects. That is how I made the audio for this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I14SU4R5vhk

We can also stream in any existing audio, such as Gilbert & Sullivan. (There may be copyright issues here.) Arrangements for streaming have to be made by the owner of the hosting sim. There may be costs for streaming.

I would expect to wait several months if we want Lindem Live voice.

We can upload files of less than 10 sec and play them from a prim. I have a streamer script that will play multiple audio files in sequence to get past the 10 sec limit. But this method takes too much hand work to be practical for any long speech.

I dont think we need an agenda item on this till we have a script.