INVISIBLE MAN #Twittermission Round-Up

Our inaugural #Twittermission took place on the evening of January 30. The Twitterverse was buzzing with excitement when we announced the event, and there were many people following closesly as I communicated over video chat with Invisible Man projection designer Alex Koch and costume designer Kathleen Geldard and relayed their answers to audience questions live over our twitter feed, which was then displayed on the video monitors in the lobby during intermission. While much of the in-house audience seemed busy/distracted with concessions and bathroom runs, the video monitors still drew several curious eyes who watched with interest. With a little more leadtime to promote the event for A Raisin In The Sun, we're hoping to get our audiences - both those at the theatre, and those at home -even more involved in the #Twittermission conversation.

The conversation remains on our Twitter feed, of course, but for the sake of posterity, here are the tweets as they took place last night. (for those unfamiliar with twitter shorthand, @diveunderwater is Alex Koch)

Introducing #Twittermission

As Twitter has continued to grow in popularity, there's been a lot of talk in the theatre world about how to integrate it (and other social media platforms / smartphone apps) into performances. Many of you have probably already heard or read about "tweet seats," and the ensuing conversation / backlash around that. But as our Artistic Director Peter said, "from the moment the curtain goes up to the moment it comes down, the art on stage is all the engagement the audience needs. That onstage moment you miss to read or send a tweet could be the one that sends chills up your spine, stirs you with empathy, or sends your imagination wild."

So instead, we've found another way to get involved — but of course, we're going to need your help (hence the "social" part of "social media). Enter: #Twittermission. What's that? I'm glad you asked (he says rhetorically). At select performances, we'll be opening up our Twitter account to an artist, designer, stage manager, or other face behind-the-scenes who will field questions from the audience and answer them in real-time during intermission. The conversation will be displayed on the video monitors in the lobby of each of our theatres, allowing our audience to follow along. And if you don't have a ticket for the performance that night, you can still follow along with us live on Twitter. Think of it as another way to keep the conversation going after the curtain's gone down (and for those of you unfamiliar with Twitter -- our tweets will all be public, so you can still follow along without signing up or having an account of your own). If you're not able to follow along live, the conversation will remain archived on our Twitter feed, so you can go back and read through it any time you'd like!

We'll be hosting our inaugural #Twittermission this Wednesday, January 30, at the 7:30pm performance of Invisible Man. Video / Projection Designer Alex Koch will be on hand to answer your questions, whether they're about the production in general, the integration of video/media into live performance, Pedro Martinez's new position on the Red Sox (hey, he's a Cambridge native), or anything else. Feel free to ask your questions ahead of time as well — we'll compile all your questions and answer them throughout each intermission, making sure to tag your twitter handle in the response (unless you ask us not). Just make sure that you direct your tweets to the @Huntington and include the hashtag #Twittermission.

Sincerely crossing my fingers in the hope that this works,

Thom Dunn

Web and New Media Manager

Special Upcoming INVISIBLE MAN Post-Show Conversations

From Sam Lasman, Literary Professional Intern

Given the depth and complexity of the themes explored in Invisible Man (both the novel and our currently running stage adaptation), we've invited local scholars who study Ellison, his work, and/or broader themes of African-American literature and identity to lend their voices to a few of our regular post-show conversations. On Saturday, January 12, Robin Bernstein, an Associate Professor of African and African American Studies and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University, joined us following the 2pm performance. She brought keen perspectives on the representation of invisibility and the performance of black narratives to the conversation. Her most recent book, Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights, won the 2012 Outstanding Book Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.

Upcoming guests include:

• Saturday, January 19, following the 2pm performance: Cynthia Young, Associate Professor of English and African and African Diaspora Studies at Boston College, teaches courses on race, film, and African American literature. She is the author of Soul Power: Culture, Radicalism and the Making of a U.S. Third World Left and has written widely on popular culture.
• Sunday, January 20, following the 2pm performance: Theo Theoharis, an Associate in the Department of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, teaches a course on the cultural politics of Invisible Man. Professor Theoharis has published books on authors as disparate as Ibsen, Joyce, and Cavafy.
• Saturday, January 26, following the 2pm performance: Sandy Alexandre, an associate professor of American literature at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the author of The Properties of Violence  (2012), which explores the connections between various representational forms of lynching and the issue of black dispossession. She is conducting research for her second book, trying to determine if slavery's discourse of black “thinghood” — as chattel, cargo, etc. — informs representations of black people’s relationship to material objects. She also has published several scholarly articles.
• Saturday, February 2, following the 2pm performance: Glenda Carpio is a professor of African and African American Studies and English at Harvard University. Her book, Laughing Fit to Kill: Black Humor in the Fictions of Slavery, was published by Oxford University Press in 2008. She is currently working on a book on immigration, expatriation, and exile in American literature. Professor Carpio also recently co-edited African American Literary Studies: New Texts, New Approaches, New Challenges (2011) with Professor Werner Sollors.

We hope you'll join us for one of these special conversations. If you've already seen Invisible Man, let us know what themes you left the theatre thinking about.

What Audiences Are Saying About INVISIBLE MAN

Have you seen Invisible Man? Please share your comments with us.

• In the final moment of the play, Invisible Man declares, "Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?" When have you felt invisible? Did this story speak for you? 

• Theatre and novels are two very different methods of telling a story. Have you read Ralph Ellison's original novel? Do you think this was a successful stage adaptation? Do you think the theatrical elements -- the video projections, Invisible Man's narration, etc. -- were effective in telling the story?

• Did you attend a post-show conversation? What comments surprised you or made you think differently about the play? Would you attend a post-show conversation again? What were you thinking about on the way home from the theatre?

Make a comment

The Huntington Theatre Company's production of Invisible Man plays through February 3, 2013 at the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre. Get tickets and information or call our Box Office at 617 266-0800.

Rehearsals begin in Washington, DC for INVISIBLE MAN

By Lisa Timmel, Director of New Work

Monday nights are usually a night off for theatre folk, but last Monday night sixty or so artists, administrators, and patrons gathered at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC for the first rehearsal of the Huntington/Studio co-production of Invisible Man. After a buffet of barbecue chicken, sweet potato fries, and cornbread we gathered in the theatre for a welcome from Studio artistic director David Muse and remarks and presentations from the Invisible Man creative team. Muse spoke eloquently about how moved he was by the world premiere production that he saw last winter at Chicago's Court Theatre. This play, in his view, is a labor of love, a unique experience that captures the whole variety of style in the novel in theatrical form, and a remarkable feat of adaptation.

Teagle F. Bougere in Invisible Man, photo: Michael Brosilow

Director Chris McEleron assured everyone gathered that this ambitious new production would "kick our ass just as it did in Chicago, just as it will in Boston." Along with his projection designer, he emphasized that he novel and the play are reflections of the collective American experience. With an ensemble of nine actors, the set and costume design, as well as the projections, the production will create a mosaic of memories out of iconic, original and some contemporary images. With that, the cast assembled and read on into the night. When they were done, we left, exhausted and exhilarated.

We can't wait for this ambitious, important, fascinating play to get here.

The Huntington Theatre Company's production of INVISIBLE MAN by Oren Jacoby runs January 4 through February 3, 2013 on the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115. Tickets and information here or call our Box Office at 617 266 0800.

Our visit to DC's Studio Theatre for INVISIBLE MAN.

Contributed by Justin Seward, Asst. Props Master 



This past week our Asst. Technical Director Dan Oleksy and I took a trip to Washington, DC to visit our friends at the Studio Theatre, who are currently building our co-production of Invisible Man, an adaptation of Ralph Ellison's novel by Oren Jacoby, A co-production allows multiple theatres to join its resources and budgets, as well as actors, artists, and staff in order to produce the best possible production. Scenic designer Troy Hourie recently visited our prop stock to choose items for the production. Last Wednesday morning (August 1), the prop shop loaded the Huntington van with props and set dressing for the journey to DC. 

I met Studio Theatre's Props Master Deb Thomas on Thursday afternoon to unload.  Afterward, she gave me a tour of their great facility.  At the same time Dan O. visited the scene shop to check out the progress of the set construction. The Huntington’s BU Theatre is very different from the Studio’s theatre, so both scene shops face a bit of a challenge to make sure the show fits properly into both spaces.

That night, I was lucky enough to see Studio's production of “Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson,” which was fantastic. The Studio’s run of Invisible Man begins Sept 5^th After DC, the production will be packed and shipped to Boston where we will then load it into the BU Theatre for its Huntington run.  It's already shaping up to be a fantastic production. 

As a bonus, I was able to stay with my brother and sister-in-law in Gaithersburg, MD... and see my new nephew, Huey!

Huey

The Huntington Theatre Company's production of INVISIBLE MAN by Oren Jacoby runs January 4 through February 3, 2013 on the Avenue of the Arts / BU Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115.  Tickets and information here or call our Box Office at 617 266 0800.