THEME

I have the feeling this will be a multi-part discussion. Because “Theme” is one of those loaded words (like “Story” or “Art”) for which everyone carries their own meanings.

For the purposes of our process here, “Theme” simply refers to – in the broadest possible sense – what the show is about.

This could be a concrete Theme (like ‘Movies’ or ‘Games’ or ‘African Pygmy Hedgehogs’) or it could exist on the more metaphorical end of the spectrum (‘Coincidences’ or ‘Luck’ or ‘That Feeling of Not Having a Stair Underfoot When You Think There Should Be A Stair”).

A mistake I’ve made in the past is being too precious with individual steps at this point. As you will soon see – if you haven’t already internalized it – this process is all about ensuring that the different elements of a show all fit together. That the Theme informs the Material and vice versa. That your Goals inform your Frame and the other way around. Etc.

That is a very delicate balance that can’t be struck by simply fleshing out each piece and attempting to connect them. The process is about the recalibration of the different elements to bring them together seamlessly.

I’m a sucker for an obtuse analogy, so here’s a not-so-real-life example that I hope clarifies what I’m trying to say. Imagine you’re creating a jigsaw puzzle – not just fitting together pieces, but making one from scratch. You’ve decided – because of some unknown reason – to paint individual squares of material with sections of your image that overlap. The calibration process is the trimming of those images little by little to fit the design together perfectly in a unique shape.

Eh… sort of lost the thread of that one as I was going through it, so it’s probably less helpful than I would hope. Alas! Sometimes things we try don’t work out!

Anyways, the point of the last several paragraphs is that we’re not editing/trimming/re-working individual pieces now. We’re still in broad strokes mindsets. So keep it simple here.

Your Theme needn’t (and really can’t at this point) encapsulate everything your show is about. It’s only a starting point.

As you’ve probably gleaned from previous posts, my Theme to test out is “Heist.”

We’re still at a place where artistic choices can be somewhat independent (as there aren’t too many individual elements to fit together). So my main reason for choosing Heist as a theme is because I like it! I enjoy heist movies because they’re exciting and real-life capers have a mystique around them. That enjoyment might feel flippant or irrelevant in a discussion of process, but as Tamariz is wont to say – the love for the subject matter comes through to the audience (Check out his discussions of the Seven Veils out of The Magic Rainbow).

With deeper consideration, I think Heists have more wide appeal than a lot of my esoteric interests – especially in the context of an evening/weekend performance that toes the line between theatrical and participatory.

To stretch out my awareness muscles to make sure that I’m keeping other elements of the process in mind, I’ll take a quick peek at my goals (Design immersive show, sustainable finances, documentation/leveraging of the show).

I certainly think this could have some fun immersive design potential, the concept is broad enough (while being exciting and fun) to keep an audience rolling through, and I’m excited by the possibilities for documentation and growth with a show like this.

Let’s see what happens!

RANDOM IDEAS

  • Of the variety of Heists, Art theft in particular has always interested me. Maybe the aesthetics of the “set” or space could be something between a sketchy warehouse where criminals meet to plan their caper and an art gallery.
    • If it ends up having an art gallery feel, I could see visual of playing card inspired art, or maybe cards displayed as art. Something to frame the cards as works of art so any metaphorical use of them throughout the show to represent artworks has some weight behind it.
  • How can I work an Entrapment-style laser grid into this?!
    • Smoke machine…
  • The giveaways/swag/sneaky gifts have Talk Trigger potential
  • If there’s an art gallery this could (eventually) have some sort of visual arts sales component as a financial upsell to folks who are interested
    • Like how coffeeshops have local art up on the walls for sale
    • What would “Magical Playing Card Art” be?
      • Hidden imagery that calls back to the Heist concept?