The earlier posts in the blog have explored Sondheim’s
legacy, the lives of Company’s
characters as envisioned in our production, and the impact of social media on
our psychological well-being and our relationships. This final post before our
show opens examines the power of live theatre. It reflects on the question, “Why
are we here at the theatre tonight?”
I propose that we’re here at this moment, at least in part,
because live theatre can serve as an antidote to the alienating and isolating effects
of social media that pervade our lives (effects explored in the blog post, “City
of Strangers”). Playwright Ayad Akhtar, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Disgraced and recipient of the 2017 Steinberg Playwright Award, shares this reflection on the power of live theatre: “[The actor’s body presents us with a] living being before a living
audience. Relationship unmediated by the contemporary disembodying screen. Not
the appearance of a person, but the reality of one. Not a simulacrum of
relationship, but a form of actual relationship.” When I enter the theatre, I
enter into relationship with the actors, with their physical presence, and with
all that they embody.
It’s not only the actors’ bodies that we theatregoers enter
into relationship with – we also enter into relationship with each other.
Theatre scholar Anthony Rhine cites research that suggests that younger audience members, in particular, are going to the theatre to seek social connection. And we may be finding more than just social connection – we may
also be experiencing a physiological connection. Researchers at University College London have found that the heightened emotional experience of live theatre can synchronize the heart beats of the audience. This strikes me as not
only a physiological connection, but also a spiritual one.
We are invited into
the theatre to join in a form of communion. This is my hope for our production
of Company – a living, breathing thing;
the realization of the combined creative energies of all of its collaborators –
that it should have this effect on the audience: May our beating hearts synchronize. May we all experience the
wonder of being alive.
Sources:
Akhtar,
Ayad. “An Antidote to Digital Dehumanization? Live Theater.” The New York
Times, 29 Dec. 2017,
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/theater/ayad-akhtar-steinberg-award-digital-dehumanization-live-theater.html?_r=0
Miller, Phil. "From the Heart: Watching Live Theatre Unifies an Audience's Heartbeats, Research Finds." The Herald, 15 Nov. 2017,
Rhine,
Anthony. “The Science of Mattering: How to Gauge Theatre’s Impact.” American Theatre, 2 Jan. 2018, http://www.americantheatre.org/2018/01/02/science-of-mattering-how-to-measure-theatres-impact/
