DIRECTORS' NOTES

           When devising, the trick is to set limitations within which to dream creatively.  This year, many of those limitations were set for us—we’d have to create online, isolated from one another, and for an audience we’d never get to meet. Our living spaces would dictate our stages, lighting, Wi-Fi capabilities and, ultimately, our stories. We could be together, but only through glass.

                 We had no choice but to embrace the challenge. This meant curbing best practices, experimenting with new technologies and meeting with open minds. All in hope that a new way of working would reveal itself. I believe this reflects the state of most industries, at present.  So, do we embrace the opportunity to transform, or do we wait it out and hope things will return to ‘normal’? We chose to embrace transformation. The one additional constraint we gave ourselves on this project, was that we wouldn’t allow ourselves the use of Green Screens. We wanted to see what would happen if we were forced to acknowledge our surroundings, our state of isolation and the technologies that have been necessary for us to connect.   

         Beyond Windows is the product of our creative explorations together. The play was generated collaboratively from the talents, ideas and invention of all artists involved. We set out to tell 4 stories that would, also, address the challenges and necessity of transformation. They are loosely connected by common themes and a central question:  Can the technologies we’ve become reliant on act as windows to new possibilities, or are they barriers to truer connection with our relationships and the natural world around us?

Thank you for joining us, wherever you are. 

              Beyond Windows is a zoom play in every sense of the word. It was conceptualized, written, staged, rehearsed, and performed on zoom. I have had the great pleasure of being a part of every step of the journey. As a theatre student during the pandemic I have seen a lot of zoom plays and what I love about Beyond Windows is that it acknowledges and embraces the platform. As the characters attempt to connect through technology we attempt to connect to you, the audience. This is a play about the online lives that we have been imprisoned in, but it is also about what lies beyond. When the computer shifts from the desk, when the actor moves out of screen, when we see genuine connection take place, this is what Beyond Windows is about.

Beyond Windows is a live play. When studying the question of liveness in performance it is difficult to imagine a form of liveness that is solitary. When a performance is live it is physically in front of you, but we are unable to be physically present with one another. How can we make a virtual performance live? Is it possible to be live without being physically present? Zoom quickly became the “new normal” form of liveness. In using a platform like zoom creates a feeling of live theatre without physical presence.