Binged enough Tiger King and The Office reruns yet? Jonesing for some live theatre? Check out Zoom Theatre’s continuing experiment in live theatre over the web when it presents LUNGS, by Duncan Macmillan, live, free and on the web on May 7, 8, 9 and 10 at www.zoomtheatre.com.
Zoom Theatre is the brainchild of Bay Area and Portland OR theatre director Patrick Nims. According to Nims, “Zoom Theatre is a theatre for our times. We use web software to deliver live theatre to a live audience. Zoom is live every time. The shows are selected and staged specifically for webcam presentation. Our audience sees and hears every moment from the best seat in the house. And they are part of the event, just like in real theater.”
“Zoom audiences can fully participate in the show by opening their microphones on their local computers. This makes them part of the performance. Opening your mic is optional, and is not required, but the actors love being able to hear the audience respond to their work as it is happening.”
LUNGS by Duncan Macmillan is Zoom’s second offering and stars North Bay favorites Amber Collins Crane and Gregory Crane. “LUNGS is a hilarious and bracing look at love in the time of climate change and environmental upheaval” said Nims. “It was written in 2011 and all of the issues it raises are even more pressing today. It grapples with questions of family, change, social responsibility and hope in a world of crisis.”
The fact that Collins Crane and Crane are married and sheltering together also gives Nims and Zoom an opportunity to explore new aspects of live web performance. “In our first production we had a Portland Actor Voni Kengla, and Bay Area actor David Yen (who had never met in real life) create an extremely realistic conversation, seemingly over a kitchen table. In LUNGS we have two people in the same room, telling a moving and deeply romantic story while the audience, director, and stage crew are remote. This show is an actor’s dream. The work that Amber and Gregory do in it is so honest and vulnerable that it touches me every time.”
Audience feedback to Zoom’s first production included “blown away”, “superb", "highly recommend”, “inspired”, "absorbing! Don’t miss it”, and "a new way to tell stories". “We’re still learning and something was tweaked every night”, Nims explained “but every night got better as the cast and crew grew more confident with this new medium.”
Unexpectedly, each night also created a community as audience members chatted before the show and shared where they were from, who in the cast they knew, and made small talk. “We had audience members from the Midwest, East Coast, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. And the audience talk-backs after the performances were amazing”, said Nims.
Zoom Theatre’s production of LUNGS will be presented for free on May 7, 8, 9 and 10. Showtimes and ticket RSVP are available at www.zoomtheatre.com.