My thoughts after attending TEDxBroadway, an event looking at what Broadway could be in twenty years.
By Ryan Bogner (Producer, Wingnut)
On Monday I was fortunate enough to atttend TEDxBroadway, which was an independently organized TED event dealing with the future of Broadway. If you aren't familiar with TED, they are an organization that holds conferences that deal with really big ideas, where experts in various fields give short talks on big ideas that could change the world. (head on over to ted.com to check it out)
TedXBroadway was much the same, with speakers from the world of Broadway and Live entertainment as well as outside the box thinkers from everything from marketing to cultural research. I won't give you a rundown of the whole event as Howard Sherman has already done a great job of that with his live blog coverage (found here.)
There was a lot of talk about reaching the next generation, and about how the world is changing. The big question being how does our art form remain relvent in a world with boundless opportunites of entertainment available at our beck and call?
As a member of that next generation, I want to share with you all what my take away from the afternoon was.
Patricia Martin, author of Renaissance Generation: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer, discussed in her talk how the younger geneartion is operating on a higher frequency. Her research has shown that most of our decisions are based upon a desire for emotional stimulation, we do things that will make us happy or feel connected to others. Of course as Ms. Martin pointed out, this connection has the most power when it happens live.
Theater can provide that connection, but it has to be authentic. Ours is not a generation that can be manipulated, we have incredible bullshit detectors from being raised in a world of constant messaging and mass media on a scale never known to the world. But we do respond to being authentically moved by something.
Jordan Roth, president of Jujamcyn Theaters, reminded the audience that originality doesn't necessarily come from the what, or the source of the inspiration, but in the how, or the way its presented. Pointing out that the theater that is the most innovative are the works that tell stories in a way that only our unique live medium can.
My take-away is this: if Theater is going to survive in the 21st century, we need to tell authentically compelling human stories and tell them in a way that can only be experienced live. This has to be paramount and it has to come first.
I'm not sure if I'd take the advice Randy Wiener (the producer of Sleep No More) gave in his talk of zeroing out the marketing budget and spending it on the show itself at 100 percent in all cases. But the sentiment that the focus needs to be on the creation of amazing work and letting that work speak for itself truly hits home.
Let's stop trying to be what we aren't and start celebrating what we are.
RYAN BOGNER is a New York based Theater Producer. He has produced Yeast Nation, Hurricane, Hater and Hey, You Know What Movie Would Make a Good Musical? among others, and is working towards an MFA in Theater Management and Producing at Columbia University. www.heyyouknowwhatproductions.com
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