Project allows audience to view new work safely from home
Reading Theater Project announces their first online theater experiment, Adaptations . Short, solo performances will be pre-recorded and shared online for audiences to watch from home beginning Saturday, July 25, at 7pm. This online theater experiment will be free to all, though donations are welcome. Audience registration is recommended at readingtheaterproject.com/adaptations/.
“Theater depends on actors and audience sharing space, and we aren’t comfortable with that right now. So we came up with this online experiment, which fulfills our mission of creating original theater and creates a space where we can adapt our creative process,” said Artistic Director Vicki Haller Graff.
Performer and company member Kath Godwin had the initial idea to create an online dance to a composition by Music Director Chris Heslop. After Godwin’s first recording, Heslop wrote three more compositions, and the company invited other performing artists to join the project.
“Each song was a result of my own adaptation: not having anyone available to play my compositions in person. From there, I experimented with tempo changes, subtractive composition, and extreme-range counterpoint,” said composer and Music Director Chris Heslop.
Each performer was assigned a director, and they are working together online, using recordings, email, phone calls, and video chatting to develop ideas into performance-ready pieces. All of the recorded performances will be shared online on July 25, and will be available after that date as well.
Performers include Margot Adams, Kath Godwin, Joel Gori, Emily Hannon, Bree Ogaldez, Christopher Paolini, Kathryn Pedersen, Megan Rose, Phillip Jeffrey Tietbohl, Jessica C. Warchal-King, and Michelle Wasik. All music was composed by Chris Heslop, and the project directors are James Damore, Vicki Haller Graff, and Sean Sassaman.
The Reading Theater Project is a locally-focused, professional theater company, based in Greater Reading/Berks County, PA. We value collaboration and creative challenges and believe theater is an inclusive experience that can reveal our shared human condition. For more information, visit readingtheaterproject.com or call 484-706-9719
