Theatre Vs Google: The Age of Self Driving Theatre

By William Missouri Downs
A colleague who was directing a college production of Waiting for Godot told me that during rehearsals the sophomore playing Estragon turned to her and said, âIf my character is âwaitingâ wouldnât he check his text messages?â When I teach Introduction to Theatre, I take âTwitter breaksâ so the itchy-fingered freshman can reconnect. When I write plays, I worry about any line that might cause the slightest offense, for as an Artistic Director warned me, âAll it takes is one disgruntled patron with an I-phone to start an internet-fueled boycott.â No doubt the digital age has changed the theatre, but the big problem is algorithms.
How could Romeo and Juliet take place in a world of dating apps? No algorithm would match a Montague with a Capulet.
But more, Romeo and Mercutio would never have considered the possibility of going to a party at the Capulets in the first place because in the so-called âinformation ageâ algorithms would make them unaware that the Capulets were having a party. William Ingeâs play Bus Stop wouldnât happen either because Carl, the character of the bus driver, wouldâve checked his Weather app before setting out, thus avoiding the snowstorm that traps the characters. And a quick check of 23andMe.com wouldâve saved Oedipus a lot of messy self-realization.
Further, many of us are now being trapped in algorithm-generated identities that reaffirm our own correctness and make us forget the common denominators that give us deep empathy for people unlike ourselves. In his book Solitude Michael Harris writes, âWeâve turned into navigation zombies. Without thinking, you follow what Google Maps tells you to do.â (Pg. 119) This causes our âway-finding skills to atrophy.â As a result, âyou wonât be exposed to things you donât know, things you havenât loved yet. Personal growth becomes stunted, and the idea of what you âlikeâ grotesquely caricatured.â (Pg. 107)
We live in a time of self-driving theatre.
As with self-driving cars, self-driving theatre is never lost, it always knows what is around the corner because everything is well-charted territory. As an example, here is a list of the most popular plays currently being produced by high schools in the US (according to Playbill):
o Almost, Maine
o A Midsummer Night’s Dream
o You Can’t Take It With You
o Noises Off
o Twelve Angry Menâ¨(People)
o Alice in Wonderland
o The Crucible
o Our Town
o A Christmas Carol
o Neil Simonâs Fools
What do they have in common? Yes, theyâre all good plays, but theyâre old (only one was written in the 21st century). They have something else in common; theyâre all well-charted territory. Self-driving audiences know exactly what to expect before they enter the theatre. Is this any different from the following shows on Broadway?
o Aladdin
o Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
o Beetlejuice
o Frozen
o Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
o The Lion King
o Moulin Rouge!
o The Phantom of the Opera
o Pretty Woman
o Tootsie
In my opinion, few of us are fish out of water anymore.
The problem with this is that at its core, creativity is about entering uncharted territory. If youâve never been lost, youâve never been creative.
Soon we will have Google Theatre. With Google Theatre the audience will use a kiosk in the lobby to dial up their preferred race, sexuality, and gender preference. They will also select their political identity. The actors will then change the story to accommodate the audienceâs needs. It’s already happening in literature. Check out “Wattpad,” a platform where writers and readers create user-generated stories that accommodate the reader’s personal preferences.
Iâve always thought that theatre should be a transformative experience, but it cannot transform if itâs designed merely to flatter the audience.
If you are doing theatre in which the audience agrees with the playwright and looks and acts just like the actors, then you are doing Google theatre. I write this from experience, Iâve done far too much Google Theatre in my life.
Here is my prediction of the top ten plays that Google Theatre will produce in 10 years:
o Adele, Aladdin and The Tower of Doom
o Our House, The Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Musical
o Twelve Angry BeyoncĂŠs
o Almost Frozen
o The Bride of Harry Potter
o The Lion Kingâs Cursed Child
o Ariana Grande at the Moulin Rouge!
o Fences, the Musical
o A Christmas Carol II
o Neil Simonâs Fools
Also by William Missouri Downs:
Arts and Humanities vs. Fascism: Defending Our Education
Ivanka Trump vs Konstantin Stanislavski