IN PROGRESS

Closed Reading: December 20th, 2021

“The Life and Crimes of the Rainbow Collective”, or as I lovingly refer it as “The Rainbow Collective” was developed as a fun cyber crime heist show, with the technology to back it up. The show was written by myself and my friend Rory Eggleston. It was written as a character and technology driven show, often the two working hand and hand. The queer BIPOC characters were written to reflect the characters we wish to see represented in media and specifically in theatre.

The technology is a symphony of OBS. Using both the Video features and ability to broadcast timers, calendars etc, this show blends the world of zoom and reality. The show was written to take place on zoom, and other social chats, therefore it is impossible to be done in a physical space. The Heist sequences that take place are a choreographed combination of actors new type of “tech blocking” and video, media design. This is digital theatre.

Written and Designed by Kelly Lin Hayes

Show

“The Coffee Nest” or “The Gay Coffee Shop Play” is a VR experience, where the audience is a customer in a coffee shop. They watch multiple couples fall in love during the run of the show, and there's an underlying sadness. At the end they encounter their own new character who is a regular customer, and they ask the audience out for a date. This is how the play ends.

The Tech

The design is a singular coffee shop, with little developed by the outside. The audience is placed in a window seat and gets a full view of the café, and interacts with the characters by holding the door open for them. The coffee shop is rustic modern, which means it includes a lot of wood elements but has a lot of modern furnishings. The café sits on the corner of the street which means there's a lot of room to look around, with a small small nook in the corner.

The role of the audience is to look at the interactions of characters as they walk around. We watch a series of couples fall in love while they sit at this coffee shop. It's unclear how or why they spend every day in this coffee shop, maybe it's illuminated by the staff and the customers?

Written and Designed by Kelly Lin Hayes

Show

Mason is struggling to find a direction in life and goes to work in Newtown square. The audience gets to follow Mason as he explores this town and meets new people and new perspectives on what it really means to grow up even in college. At the end of the show the audience gets to choose a path for mason, having heard the experiences of all the residents in the town.

The Tech

The tech of this show is based off of a dating simulator. Which means there are transparent speech bubbles that appear as the actors are talking. This is something they control themselves. At the end the engineer creates 8 different zoom breakout rooms that correlate to an ending an the audience must choose which ending they want to hear for themselves.

Paint and Sip.

Written and Designed by Kelly Lin Hayes

Show

Paint and sip is an immersive piece, the audience is invited to a “paint and sip” night. 3 women and an instructor are plants. The instructor tries to control the women as they devolve into a night full of gossip and alcohol. The audience is in the middle of the room, left to deal with the chaos.

The Tech

The tech is fairly simple. The audience is sent a confirmation email and is told to bring art materials and wine, and when they get there are in an art class over zoom. The actors are performing in the midst of a very confused audience.

music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine.

Show

Sunday in the park with george follows the fictional story of real life painter George Seurat and his fiction family. In act one Geroge laments his artistry, and laments on the quality of life it has given him. Always the visionary he is constantly creating works other people dont understand, it culminates in his final piece, on which the show was inspired by “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” In act two we see george’s son go through the same thing, also unsure, as an artist. The story resulting in a reflection of the artist, and the quality of life we sacrifice for our art.

The Tech

My tagline of this revival has always been “how cool would it be to do this show in a medium that Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine could have never have fathomed” VR, a relatively new medium, offers perspective of how one consumes art. Individually or with group.

Of course multiple shows are a mixture of both but an example of a group musical would be “Natasha Pierre and the Great comet of 1812”. I would argue viewing “sunday in the park with George” is such a personal experience that makes you reflect on your own journey, the singular VR experience would be a perfect way to view the show.

The techniques would probably include a live streamed version of the show that takes you through a dream-like first act, and brings you into the stark reality of the second act, literally part of George son’s lecture. While we would float through the first act like a memory. We would allow ourselves to feel and be George in the second act.

The entire experience would be encapsulated in a walkthrough of an art gallery with one piece. You would walk into a white abstract space with just “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.” sit on the art bench and be quite literally sucked into the piece as the overture plays. And as the last “Sunday'' is being sung, the video would zoom you back out to your art bench. And there the show would end. A journey for an individual.

7 Plays 7 Days

Book Link: https://issuu.com/kellyannelinhayes01/docs/7_days_7_plays_book

In The Summer I was feeling blocked creatively. My Solution was to design 7 shows in seven days. Researching short 10-15 minute plays, I created 7 one-set designs and graphics to convey the feel of the show. It was a very helpful exercise, and I would love to revisit the idea in the future.

LINK TO BOOK:

A collection of songs from Stephen Sondheim

https://issuu.com/kellyannelinhayes01/docs/zoom_extention_marry_me_a_little_book

Visit the link above to read about the full idea!

Special Thanks to: Nancy Merlin, Cassidy Hamilton, and Kaitlin Junod

“Marry Me A Little, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, conceived by Craig Lucas and Norman René, directed by Keen Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein weaves together several unknown Sondheim songs. Marry Me a Little tells the charming and bittersweet tale of love, loneliness and survival of the modern single. Two single strangers, left alone in their studio apartments on a Saturday night, pass their time with sweetly secret, shared fantasies, never knowing that they're just a floor away from each other and the end of their lonely dreams.”

-”Marry Me a Little” Press Release

Previous Iterations

The previous iterations of “Marry Me A Little”, especially the more formal ones, have been done as smaller 2 person productions. However there have been mentions of mixing the two characters as 2 boys or 2 girls. Some productions add another 2 people into the cast. The previous designs have the characters inhabit 1 set together. They sing together without actually interacting with each other.

The larger set

The cool thing about the un-specificity of this musical and the format, means the production can have multiple people. I like the idea of a grid system of a bunch of people singing to each other. Whether we suggest 4, 9 or 16 in an even square grid, or a bunch of interestingly shaped rooms, the through line is isolation. The characters long for a relationship, however they never meet each other. Thats the tragedy. That's why I would want them all separated in their own rooms.

The grid an evolved concept

The evolved grid concept includes the expansion of the background to other screens. This is done by cutting the original background and letting each actor replace the background at will.This comes together almost like a giant puzzle. This helps to diversify the design as well as the frame we view characters through and keep the audience interested at every scene.

Pairs and singles and groups.

This layout also helps to support duets and solos in the song. Sometimes the background fits in four grid squares and sometimes it only fits two. Sometimes a solo performer can have only one background, or two backgrounds or even all four turned on. This could reflect the tone of the song, or a character choice. The capabilities grow exponentially when you add on the possibility for 6 or 9 total performers, therefore expanding the screen to 6 or 9 screens in total.

A very careful layout

The careful layout of the entire process requires delicate and carefully planned engineering. For example. WHen planning out the combinations of backgrounds for 4 panels. There were a total of 30 or more unique background options that were made. That's at least 30 backgrounds for only 4 unique scenes. Each move has to be tracked and figured out. The entrances, the priority of placement on the screen by Zoom all come into consideration.

A real experiment. The Experiment

In the age of “Zoom theatre” I was able to find friends to help experiment with the show. The roles are as follows. And the performers each have backgrounds that correspond to their own box. This experimentation proves how intricate the system of backgrounds are but if practiced enough proves simple as there are only as many changes as songs.

After the Experiment

After the experiment we found out a few things about the medium of zoom. For example it can be disorienting for a sequence of panels to be reflected incorrectly back at actors when in fact it is correct for those in the audience. This group of friends agreed to log on for an hour to help take screenshots, but the show would require practice and careful planning.

In conclusion

While we navigate these tough times, this show, this idea, proves that while broadway is closed, theatre is not dead. Besides these ideas there are tons of immersive shows being done and exceeding the capabilities of traditional theatre. My specific zoom theatre aims not to overtake the medium of live theatre, but instead offers an adaptable solution to a creatively-crushing problem.

The Last Five Years (A Zoom Concept)

Written by: Jason Robert Brown

((Book Coming Soon!))

The Last Five Years is a musical that is written by Jason Robert Brown. The show only has two characters and lays out the story in a different way. Jamie, a new writer, hits his stride early in the show and the audience follows his journey as he tries to balance love and his growing fame. Cathy is a struggling actor, only seeming to fail more and more.

The story is told forward for Jamie and backward for Cathy, where the two alternate their songs. We meet Jamie at the moment presumably when he fell in love with Cathy and Cathy actually starts at the end, as she reads a letter Jamie writes her detailing their inevitable divorce.

The Concept

The power of Zoom theatre (do it cowards)

As we are in quarantine right now it's important to highlight different shows. The Last five years to me have always been a show that reflects the experience of a relationship at odds. And in a very current situation, how would a long distance relationship further exacerbate an already failing relationship?

Adapted song cycle (or why song cycles make for great Zoom theatre)

Song Cycles make for excellent adaptations. The story is often loose enough it can be re-adapted for Zoom or can be reinterpreted. Specifically Jamie and Cathy’s fractured relationship is reflected in the fact that out of the show's fourteen songs, Cathy and Jamie only sing two songs together.

A long distance relationship (A Strained Relationship)

Originally the show is played with Jamie and Cathy at odds. The show as previously stated requires a little bit of interaction with the two characters however it suits the show to keep everyone separate. I think long distance relationships can be a strain on relationships and therefore create the perfect storm in their relationship. The medium serves to throw a real wedge in the relationship and add relate-ability to couples facing the same challenges. Whether the two be in separate countries or even only an hour away.

Added Context (a reshaped story)

With every revival it's very important to add more context. Jamie’s growing disinterest with the relationship and Cathy’s worry over Jamie’s unfaithfulness come to a head during “nobody needs to know.” This song is set during or while Jamie is having an affair behind Cathy’s back. This version of the shows actually shows Cathy catching Jamie in the act of cheating during “nobody needs to know.” Cathy slips in early to a zoom call and witnesses Jamie's reassurance to Elise that he is going to leave Cathy.

The Technical

A silent Partner (or how sound works)

Narratively and sound design wise it's better if one person sings at a time. But with the narrative we can use the silence to help explain away the time periods. So in the show where the couple is together, the Schmuel song, if i don't believe in you, the actors playing opposite are silent. For Example: In the Schmuel Song, Jamie is singing the entire song, however Cathy quips in a few times. In actuality Cathy’s actor is only mouthing words of encouragement, because it isn’t her song, therefore her words don't matter. But this balances out the acting, and makes it so the silent scene partner isn't just staring and not reacting or acting.

Multimedia(or how video/set works)

So along with the obvious video design i think there are interesting opportunities to utilize all the functions of zoom. For example in “climbing uphill” Cathy is singing for an unnamed casting director and for “still hurting”, someone's camera is acting as Cathy's computer screen and typing her letter to Jamie as she sings.

How would we do it? (an actor’s new Role)

The thing about zoom theatre is the engineer and the set designer try their best to not give an actor extra work, but i think the actors are going to have to do a little behind the scenes work. In this show the actors do minimal work. The most the actors do are minimal costume changes, and at some points have to change their backgrounds, with present images, and turn off their cameras.

A FEAT of Engineering (or how an engineer implements this in real time)

As someone who has engineered a show this is entirely possible. There's a lot of sharing audio and renaming of actors, pictures. And the media. A new software called ManyCam is used to share media on Zoom, and I have used it before to design “The Dumb Waiter.” The engineer or multiple engineers control the scenes behind the camera and allow for a more in depth experience of the show. The roles the engineer fills are Cathy's casting directors and Jamie’s friends.

Visit: https://issuu.com/kellyannelinhayes01/docs/final_square_waitress_book

To see the full set design

My Official Revival Concept:

Jenna is a Chinese immigrant impregnated by her asshole boyfriend. And as she navigates her heritage and covers her problems up with inventions of new bao, she struggles with the notion of passing down a recipe to a child who shares a culture with her husband. (who is still downright abusive) Dawn and Becky are also

immigrants from Asian countries stuck in the dinner through looking “Chinese Enough” The diner itself owned by a Chinese man who believes in stealing southern white travelers money with a cheap Chinese tourist trap of a diner. Jenna’s almost out of place innovative bao as its secondary draw. Also Ogie is a butch lesbian because i said so.

Concrete Rising is a show surrounding the intense sport of Parkour. It follows a group of young people as they attempt to revitalize an old building into a new space. The design is a work in progress as the set requires consultation of a parkour expert as well as a choreographer for this physical heavy show.

Written by: Jason Robert Brown

Visit: https://issuu.com/kellyannelinhayes01/docs/xlast_5_years_blitz_book

To see the full set design

The Last Five Years is a musical that is written by Jason Robert Brown. The show only has two characters and lays out the story in a different way. Jamie, a new writer, hits his stride early in the show and the audience follows his journey as he tries to balance love and his growing fame. Cathy is a struggling actor, only seeming to fail more and more.

The story is told forward for Jamie and backward for Cathy, where the two alternate their songs. We meet Jamie at the moment presumably when he fell in love with Cathy and Cathy actually starts at the end, as she reads a letter Jamie writes her detailing their inevitable divorce.

I decided to envision the revival of The Last Five Years as a bilingual show. introducing Jamie as an up and coming Kpop star who has high expectations placed on him. Where Cathy remains the same in the shadow of Jamie’s fame. Pushing their situations to the opposite extremes. Pushing the limits of reality and fiction, fame and image. The production is both in Korean and English.

Previous Sets

Previous sets of 35mm I have looked at have been minimal to presented as a cabaret. As the show is usually performed with 4 or a few more people. I don’t disagree with this simple set up at all. I think the minimal setting works well, especially if you don't have the hundreds of thousand dollars I always think I have with my sets. But I think it's possible to have a more immersive experience.

A Live Gallery

This is definitely on the side of immersive theatre. But I think theatre is supposed to make us think and feel and pay attention. The gallery experience starts right when people walk into the space. In each of the small sets is a poster of the original photo the song was inspired by. Except now behind it is the space that the actor or actress is going to live in for the song. The audience is allowed to have a few minutes to roam around and experience the gallery before the show begins. Once the show starts the photos are replaced by the actors and actresses and the show can begin.

Written and Designed by Kelly Lin Hayes

Show

Maggie and Danielle are on vacation with their respective families. Having met that day, falling in love at the beach, in full puppy love these girls can’t get enough of each other. We watch the highs and lows of a budding relationship that is only 4 hours old? But a family secret could keep them apart.

The Tech

This show includes the use of “Techs” In a grid Like pattern using anywhere from 2-6 engineers, they create a still picture. However, zoom allows us to use video. The engineers coordinate their backgrounds to be in sync with one another so that we have movement. Because this show takes place at sunset, the video backgrounds allow for a beautiful sunset over the course of the show.

Written and Designed by Kelly Lin Hayes

Show

Based off of a Japanese style horror, this show follows Parker, Clark, Julia and Margo who are trapped in another dimension inside their school. Confronted with secrets, trauma and betrayals, this horror wonders if any of them will be able to make it out alive.

The Tech

The tech for this show is using backgrounds to our advantage. Because the school is cursed, the backgrounds don’t need to follow a throughline. Its meant to be confusing, there is no unifying theme, or mapped out specific grid settings for the show. Similar to “Why are you like this” the hallway backgrounds are meant to flow together, but not be consistent, creating a purgatory like environment.

Additionally the engineer, besides being in charge of sound, also is in charge of playing pre-recorded “found footage” like scenes in pivotal moments. These “found footage” sequences can be filmed anywhere and remotely, because the world of the “cursed” school leads the characters to places that are not necessarily school. The doors don't have to lead to classrooms.

Written and Designed by Kelly Lin Hayes

Show

Carla, Kat, Lily and Sierra are off on Halloween Night to find Kat’s friend Savannah, who has been taken along with a very special magical item. While on their midnight journey they find out more about themselves in dodging danger and drama. Follow these young witches on their journey to find out more about this new underground world, and its unexpected connections to the surface above.

The Tech

The tech of this show is reliant on the actors themselves. Using transparent gifs and PNG overlays they control their own powers. The fight at the end might have some assistance from the engineer, but in this show the actors control most of what they do.

Written and Designed by Kelly Lin Hayes

Show

The Chess game is a fun cat and mouse between 2 flirty chess players in college. While they talk about their relationship, the chess game gets more and more complicated as they dive further into their own complicated relationship, with both the game and each other.

The Tech

The tech is between them. It's a recorded Chess match we watch play out as the actors read. Using either OBS or Manycam plugin, we watch the chess game unfold as the two actors exchange lines. There are moves that punctuate the dialogue and vice versa. It's an easy going short show that shows multiple ideas happening at one time.