08 March 2009

Why are we seating our audience on the stage?

We've got this amazing new Auditorium...500 comfortable seats...a huge stage...so why are we performing BRICK in a 20 foot square, with the audience half a foot away on three sides?

Because theatre is always better...when it's close.

I love U2. Dig the new record. But I have no desire to sit in the upper deck of a football stadium for one of their shows. I want to be close!

I hate texting my daughter Gibson (even though she likes it quite a bit). I'd much rather be sitting next to her...talking...up close and personal!

And teaching...I will take a class of ten over a class of 50 any day. Why? Because closer, smaller, more intimate is better.

When you want to say something really important...share something personal...let someone in on a secret...closer and smaller is better, right?

That's how I feel about the theatre we make at Mann. What we have to say to our audience is really important, personal...it's like an amazing secret, just for them.

So BRICK players, BRICK audience...let's get close. Let's share something really, really cool. Something big...huge...in someplace small.

PHOTO: London's Cockpit Theatre.