Off-Stage Communication

What is art?....I won't try to answer that question, but most of us would agree that it involves some level of communication with your audience. Over the years, the theatrical community has developed tools, techniques, and entire disciplines devoted to improving communication on the stage. But what happens when the house lights come on? Why does the conversation need to end? Why does that feeling of interaction disappear when you leave your seat?

The good news is that these organizations are starting to catch on to the "social media thing." Devon Smith, the Theatre Manager at the Yale School of Drama conducted a study of LORT (League of Resident Theaters) theatres' use of Twitter. I was impressed to find out that 78% of LORT theatres tweet. However, 42% of those theatres forgot to mention Twitter on thier website. I was a little hurt to discover a couple of months ago that a theatre I've worked with and continue to support has both a Facebook and Twitter account. I was never invited to join.

While a growing number of theatres are embracing social media, I don't sense that they completely understand thier purpose. As opposed to a website, social media mediums are designed for two-way communication. But many theatres are setting up thier Facebook pages like websites. They use it to tell people things rather than having a dialogue. If we want our audiences to be involved - we need to involve them. We need to listen and respond. Let's take the ideas of action and reaction off the stage and weave it into all our communications with the audience. Wouldn't you prefer an engaged and responsive audience?