The Village Theatre in Issaquah is offering theater lovers a unique opportunity to shape new shows, thanks to its Beta Series, which will begin its second year soon.
The theater presents new shows its considers to be promising, so that the playwrights can find out how their plays are received by an audience. It provides actors, basic costumes and sets, and an audience of knowledgeable theatergoers who will be able to provide useful feedback about the show performance.
Based on what audience members say, the plays are changed after every performance. This means that no two performances are ever the same, and people are encouraged to attend more than once to see how the script and music change over time.
The three musicals that are set for this communal development process are ‘How to Break’, ‘Afterwords’, and ‘ZM’. How to Break considers the way in which young people battling serious illness fight to control their own lives, while Afterwords considers the difficulties of familial relationships, and ZM is a Broadway-style musical comedy featuring zombies.
How to Break plays January 5 through 14, Afterwords is running February 16 through 25, and ZM rounds out the schedule from June 1 through 10.
This type of process can benefit if theater managers work with a flyer printing company to create a critique form for use by attendees.
