OK, I recognize there’s a lot of seemingly disparate ideas here, both theoretical and practical. As I describe my ideas of ShowCraft to other performers, I find myself needing a more concise way to describe it, so here’s an attempt:
ShowCraft is actively choosing WHY to perform certain pieces WHEN.
Several folks I’ve chatted with hear things like “show design” and immediately think that means adding sound, lights, choreography, scripting, etc. And these are all elements of a show. But they’re not what makes a show a show. At its core, a show (like in theater, movies, even books) is driven by artistic intention an purpose.
Think about your magic routines and fitting them together into a set or a show in the past. You probably put a quick flashy trick up front, and then some story-based pieces in the middle, and maybe something big and impressive at the end. But other shows aren’t written like that.
That would be the equivalent of writing a moving script entirely in standalone scenes that don’t relate to each other at all. Maybe the main character is constant between them (or a better parallel could be the actor is the same but playing different roles in those scenes), but they’re going to be inherently disjointed.
Now don’t get trapped thinking that the solution is transitions. They’re helpful and necessary, but transitions don’t make a show either! Taking 10 unrelated scenes and forcing character overlap or common story elements isn’t going to make a cinematic masterpiece.
To create a full show, the show itself needs to have an arc; a trajectory driven by intention and goals. Those are what allow us to check and see if our individual pieces, with their respective presentations, and the transitional glue holding them together, are the right choice to move our show from beginning to end!
ShowCraft is actively choosing WHY to perform certain pieces WHEN.