The Future of the Theatre

     Theatre has and always will be affected by technology. Now when you go back to the days of the Greeks it's very obvious that theatre was still occurring at that time but as technology has grown and become very much a part of our daily lives it has made theatre much better. We have grown from the days of just using torches and having to create masks that will make performers' voices louder. Technology has made theatre more of a "spectacle" as it is sometimes called and it has made the lives of those working in the theatre. But, there are always technical issues that occur every once in a while and it's unfortunate and inconvenient when it happens during a performance. 
    In regards to the positive consequences of having technology involved with the theatre is that we are able to do so many things on computers and our lights, sound and even methods of creating scenery and props and costumes have advanced. In regards to light and sound we have computerized lightboards and soundboards. From personal experience, when I was a sound board operator my job was very easy. Every day all I had to do was turn on a computer to have the SFX (sound effects) program running and unlock the soundboard. Then, each setting for how loud each set or type of speakers was going to be and I never once had to change them up or move them around. It was really that simple. The only thing I had to do was basically learn the system and learn how to check the speakers and make sure everything was working correctly. That's a major benefit to having soundboards automatically save the settings for speakers for a certain show. With one click of a button you have automatically unmuted or muted the speakers needed/not needed in a specific show. 
     There's always a downside to technology because there are times when technology fails. While I was an assistant stage manager on an opera here we used a projection screen in the background of the stage to show the audience members where in South America the principal singers were traveling to. Anyway, so right before a show we were checking the projections screen and the original laptop we had for projections was not working. Turns out, there were several viruses on the computer and anyone that possibly put in a flash drive or other piece would contract those viruses as well. So, we had to get a new laptop to use for the projections but the powerpoint version was wrong and then as we were about to open the show they were still trying to fix the problem. And they had been working on this for about an hour so we ended up having to close the traveler curtain and then have it open again during Act I. It's times like those that technology really does fail sometimes and takes awhile to fix because sometimes you aren't able to pinpoint the problem right away. 
     As for the role of technology in the future it's hard to say what exactly will happen in the world of theatre. My professor told me during our interview that she heard something about followspots not needing human operators. That, eventually, we might get to the point where a lead actor can wear a little chip and the followspot will follow that actor and not need a human operator. Apparently, there are a few versions out already and they're still very, very new to the theatre world. So, obviously, they are going to have a few kinks and problems but with technology evolving so quickly nowadays it's not impossible to say that the engineers of these followspot lights will work out the kinks very quickly. 
    In regards to what I specifically want to study, Stage Management, technology has made that job so much easier. We now have cellphones and email and in this way our communication is so much better because not all directors, designer, performers, etc are located in the same place. The job of the stage manager is to bring all the aspects of the show that have been working separately and bring them together. While everyone, no matter their job, is working towards the same goal. They work separately up until the rehearsals move onto the stage and go into tech week and being able to have the technology we use makes the job of the stage manager so much easier. They communicate on headset and have the ability to put separate areas of the show onto one channel so they have the ability to communicate with one area only. The other aspect is that while on headset the stage manager can hear everyone talking to them at once. While stage managers still use a lot of paper and pencil, it's a method that doesn't fail. We can create documents for paperwork on laptops which again gives us the ability to multi-task while sitting in on a rehearsal. Another innovative method we use at CSPAC is that we have a wiki for all rehearsal and performance reports and all lists of costumes and props requested. It's a central place where everyone involved on the show can go to one place and all the information is there and according to my professor they just started using that only a few years ago and it has proven to be quite effective. All in all, technology is constantly changing and there is no way to nowhere it's going to end up in even just a few years. 


Below is the interview I had with my professor.