Sunday, October 25, 2020, 7:00 pm until 8:00 pm
Presented by Eggtooth Productions, the Academy of Music Theater, and the Shea Theater. The show takes place on Zoom on 7:00 and 9:00 PM
Eggtooth Productions, The Academy of Music Theatre of Northampton, and The Shea Theater Arts Center present a Live Theatrical Video Game called STAGEHAND. The show takes place on Zoom on October 22, 23, 24, and 25th at 7 pm and 9 pm each night.
Staged as a live performance, audience members of Stagehand join the show from home via Zoom to experience this intimate adventure from home. Discovering the unusual powers that come from exploring a live environment via a virtual interface, groups of four will be connected to an in-show avatar that allows the group to search an entire theater full of stories, objects, and characters.
Developing a relationship with their in-world avatar, audience members make choices about where to go, what to look at, and who to engage with, much in the style of a first-person video game.
As director John Bechtold offered, “We are exploring that blurry line between a live action video game that blends into live theatrical experience. What stories are possible when you leverage the immediacy of theater with the powers of virtual connections? We think there's an exciting playground here to bring the human dynamic into a remote world. We hope that theater lovers, gamers, and brave adventurers will come on this adventure with us. We've created this work at a time where two jewels of the Valley - The Shea Theater and the Academy of Music - sit mostly dormant. Even in this time, however, these theaters retain the power to inspire their visitors. Stagehand makes these spaces primary characters amidst an ensemble cast of wonderful Valley performers. We look forward to inviting you in."
Upon arrival, participants check in via a private Zoom call and are sent into this world as a character named Charlie - a stagehand put on a mission by their elusive director. Across the night, the members of the cast, who have taken to various corners of the building while the director is out. Very quickly, a host of mysteries and oddities surface for the audience to unravel.
Working from a new and exciting form, Stagehand offers live engagement with characters, explorable spaces, and a building full of questions waiting for answers. As a Valley-based theater company, Eggtooth is excited to produce a show that is also a love-letter to our local theaters that we love and miss.
Tickets are $10 at https://www.eventbrite.com/
Australis Aquaculture • Artisan Beverage Cooperative • Benjamin Company • Berkshire Brewing Company • Cohn and Company Real Estate Agency • Community Credit • Common Capital • Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts • Connecticut River Internists • Dean's Beans • Easthampton Savings Bank • FirstLight GDF Suezna • Gill Tavern • Goff Media • Great Falls Harvest • Green River Festival • Greenfield Community College • Greenfield Cooperative Bank • Greenfield Savings Bank • Loot • Massachusetts Cultural Council • Montague Bookmill Montague WebWorks • Northeast Solar • People's Pint • Rainmaker Consulting • The Rendezvous • Solar Store of Greenfield • Stobierski and Connor • Told Video • True North Transit • Turn It Up
Exciting News for A Happening IV: Leviathan
Cloudgaze and Eggtooth Productions are thrilled to announce that we have received a generous grant from the Markham-Nathan Fund for Social Justice to support our 2024 Immersive Arts Festival, “A Happening IV: Leviathan.”
This festival will transform the Shea Theater into an exploration of theme, hosting installations, music, theatrical performances, and movement pieces, featuring the collective contributions of over 30 local artists. Audiences will experience otherworldly environments and narratives inspired by folklore, fairy tales, horror motifs, American literature, and the mythos of the Old Testament, all of which delve into the central question guiding the festival: "What does it mean to encounter something greater than yourself and to be consumed by it?" Through this theme, we explore how a community reemerges and imagines itself after destruction and transformation.
With the support of the Markham-Nathan Fund, we are excited to create an event that complicates perspectives and fosters meaningful dialogue. We are grateful for this partnership and for the work of the Markham-Nathan Fund for Social Justice.
Thanks to the Mass Cultural Council for their vital support this year.We'd also like to thank the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts for their support in the form of a Flexible Funding grant. We couldn't do this work without you!