technology and theatre

Happy Monday! Can you believe it’s June already? It has been a rough couple of days in Los Angeles given the protests, rioting, and looting. How have you been? Are you taking time to check-in with yourself and give yourself the care and attention you need? It’s incredibly important that you take care of yourself right now and that you check in with your loved ones. If you didn’t get a chance to read yesterday’s post, “Black Lives Matter,” or Saturday's food-filled post, "brown bread ice cream," you can read either now by clicking on the quoted, hyperlinked title. Also, if you didn’t get the chance to vote for me to be the next #MaximCoverGirl, you can click here to vote or click here to read about why it’s important to me (and then vote!). You can vote once every twenty-four hours, and I’d be so grateful for your support! The first round of voting ends on June 4th, so I really need your help! Otherwise, if you’re all caught up on reading and voting, strap in! Let’s have an adventure!

When I first got into the swing of things in Dublin, I was fortunate enough to experience the Dublin Fringe Festival followed immediately by the Dublin Theatre Festival. My entire class was required to see the play “Unwoman Part III,” (the photo at the top of the post) which sparked many great discussions about the importance of live theatre, as well as the ever-growing role technology continues to play in live performance. The entire performance was acted live, but there were small cameras setup all around the stage in order to offer various views from different angles. It was an interesting use of technology, but I admit that it caused me to feel a sense of disconnection from what was happening, which is not usually something you want to have happen in live performance.

Another play I saw this past fall that I felt used technology in a really beneficial way was “Dear Evan Hansen” on Broadway. I met up with one of my college girlfriends for cocktails and went to see the musical. The use of technology for DEH added so much to the performance in how it portrayed viral social media posts in a high school setting. Whereas Unwoman Part III’s use of technology felt like it caused a sense of disconnect, the technology in Dear Evan Hansen actually managed to make the audience feel closer to the characters.

Have you ever experienced something where the use of technology actually caused a disconnect? How about an experience where technology made it better? Let me know! Subscribe in the e-mail submission box below and reach out, follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and reach out to me on the “contact” page. I’m so happy you're here and that I’ve been getting a lot of really great, fun-to-read stories, questions, and feedback from a community all over the globe from all different chapters of my life (and from new friends I can't wait to meet one day)! The other stories of people’s travels that I’ve gotten to read via e-mail, text, tweet, DM, etc. recently bring me such smiles, and I am so grateful for all of it! I hope I get to hear all about the crazy stories you’ve been thinking about as we’ve been on this virtual journey together! Especially during this time of uncertainty, unrest, and pandemic, it's important to surround yourself with things and people (via video chats) that bring you joy; we're all in this together. I couldn’t do this without you! So THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, truly, thank you.

And please, I know the world is crazy right now, and we all have more important things to do, but I would really appreciate your daily vote for me to be Maxim Cover Girl 2020. Click here to vote! Voting ends this coming Thursday June 4th, and I really need your help!

Sincerely,

Johny

P.S. - If you want to catch up from the beginning on this series of adventures, here's a cheat sheet to the posts (in order in which they were published):

1. Won't you join me?

2. grateful for starbucks and sandymount strand

3. Once Upon a December in the National Gallery

4. plant a smooch for that gift of gab

5. may the 4th be with you: Dingle style

6. cinco de mayo: the best Mexican food in Dublin

7. pizza in roma

8. mussolini’s window and the philosophers’ metro stop

9. father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife

10. it's the vatican, not the vatican't

11. spoiler alert: i did not lose my hand

12. more pizza and gelato and Neptune, oh my