Live series Video Director and Emmy Award-winning television producer Christiana Tye answers your most pressing questions about the Goodman’s latest theatrical endeavor.
“Wait a minute, this is LIVE!? The actors are in the theater?”
“What an undertaking!” my fellow television producer friend exclaimed when I explained what I was asked to do by the Goodman: Gather a top television production team, come out of COVID-19 hibernation and bring three plays to life by collaborating on stage with real actors, designers and directors. Don’t record it and edit it—broadcast it LIVE to excited audiences around the globe. Goodman Theatre has been so impressively forward-thinking when creating this series. Very few theaters can take a project like this on right now. From the critical COVID-19 protocols we are all following to the choice of plays best suited for our changing times, it has been a wild, fun and exciting ride.
“I’m confused. Are you recording this and then streaming it?”
These are real-time, not pre-recorded actors, directors and camera crews capturing on-stage performances. If a cameraman trips, if a light falls, if I call the wrong camera angle, if an actor forgets their lines, you will see it all unfold. These limited run performances will deliver all of the excitement of being at the Goodman, but you will be watching from your phone, tablet, laptop or television. There are only five live performances of each play and they will be broadcast from the Owen Theatre to ticket holders. These performances are completely live. They could sell out. They cannot be watched again.
“Will there be an audience?”
Each of the three plays will be performed live from the Owen Theatre to an empty auditorium. The theater has been transformed into a large soundstage and all of the seats have been taken out. This enables all of the talented designers to collaborate with my team on how to best use the space to broadcast these gripping, emotional stories to ticket holders at home.
“Can I watch it even if I am not in Chicago?”
Are you a Goodman fan who has been missing the excitement of the live theater experience? Have you always wanted to see The Sound Inside but just couldn’t make it to Williamstown Theatre Festival or New York during the previous runs? You can buy tickets and watch a LIVE performance of this Tony Award-nominated play from anywhere in the world! Just make sure you’ve figured out the time difference in advance. You don’t want to miss it.