Elevator Pitch
60 actors. 50 crew. 3 Directors. 1000 audience members. Only one opening night.
How do dozens of creatives come together and, without fail, produce, rehearse and prepare for one single deadline: opening night? Live theatre is one large waterfall project, but in reality, it’s agile at its finest.
Description
60 actors. 50 crew. 3 Directors. 1000 audience members. Only one opening night.
It’s a little mind boggling: How do dozens of creatives come together and, without fail, produce, rehearse and prepare for one single deadline: opening night? On the surface, live theatre appears to be one large waterfall project, but in reality, it’s agile at its finest.
In this talk I’ll walk through the practices that we can use as developers to make sure, the show goes on.
Notes
In theatre we all know, when opening night is set, the curtain will rise and the show will start. That deadline is not optional.
For anyone who’s been in theatre you know that you start with a grand vision and as you put the cast together and the bits and pieces are realized, collaborative compromise is a must and creative priority is essential.
Theatre is a dance with the audience. We make assumptions as creatives and actors that we test through rehearsal and previews.
The agile nature of theatre is that your intentions are set in the beginning, and through collaboration, you work through the mechanics of realizing the vision.
This talk is walk through of the production process: preparation, initial creative assumptions, iteration and collaboration as a creative team, setting expectations with the cast and crew, and trimming creative scope to stay focused on the essentials to relay the story.