Future

of Theatre ?
(Author: Mr Yogesh Baldotra)

Long before Netflix, Television, iPods and Radio came into existence, it was the
magic of Live Theatre performances that brought entertainment into the lives of
masses.
With rise of Technology, humans divorced Theatre to adopt more readily available
entertainment solutions like Mobile Games, Online Streaming and TV programming.
Instant Gratification trumped over the joy of watching truth unfold in real time in
front of your own naked eyes.
But what happened to the dethroned king of entertainment?
Apart from few community Theatre groups practicing this craft in part-time, is
Theatre on the verge of extinction?

Change is the ultimate truth in this time-framed World. Theatre being an honest
expression of truth is not averse to change. With time, Theatre disintegrated, fused
with many foreign entities, adapted to changing human appetite and continues to
evolve as a powerhouse repository of Human Truth and Transformational Tools.

In this article, I intend to share with you 4 unique ways Theatre has created its
space in today’s modern World and 2 futuristic ideas that will see Theatre getting
honored with masses attention in coming years.

1. Technology Meets Theatre: From video projections and live camerawork to
binaural microphones and computer-generated music, technology is readily
joining hands with traditional Theatre and dishing out surreal storytelling
experiences that stay with you for a lifetime. Most of the Broadway shows
have adopted technology in some form and they continue to pull a huge
number of audiences. There are shows that feed on social media activities of
the Audience to provide a customized user experience at run-time.
2. Education Sector: Due to therapeutic nature of Theatre education, many
leading educational institutions have incorporated Theatre as a subject. It
provides students with a first hand experience of the process of stage acting.
Understanding your mind, body and soul to recreate a truthful behavior
makes participants Emotionally Intelligent, Spontaneous, Creative and
Expressive.
3. Corporate Solutions: Most of the large organizations are process oriented
and takes its employees through a tried and tested path to deliver desired
results. Human employees tend to over-heat due to competitive work targets
under repetitive processes. Corporates also have a critical need to evolve
with changing business environment, which means continuous relevant
Learning and Development programs for their employees. Theatre being
100% experiential has the power to bring about behavioral changes,
perspective shifts and new idea adoptions with relative ease and fast speed.
Theatre’s approach is Inside-Out which primes up its participants from
 within to their true ‘WHY’ first and then facilitates them to connect the
remaining dots though a holistic participation of their mind, body and soul.
Theatre doesn’t teach anything; it’s an approach to make participants the
hero of strategically designed story to motivate their full participation in this
adventure where lessons are discovered on need basis.
4. Social Activism: Capitalism has invaded our social spaces and almost all of
the public forums are biased by funded opinions. There is still one tiny ray of
hope remaining in form of Participatory Theatre. There are street-plays
being organized by liberals and rationals to voice their truth across the
World. Many activists use Playback Theatre and Forum Theatre to tackle
social conflicts from ground level. Media shed light on “#MeToo” movement
in an irresponsible way causing many innocents to lose their careers and face
public humiliation without any form of serious investigation gone into the
matter first. This has caused an unspoken rift between the genders at
workplaces. Male Managers are becoming increasingly reluctant to include
females into their teams fearing unjust power of “#MeToo” accusations.
Forum Theatre unearthed this emerging emotion during “Gender Equality”
sensitivity programs across various multinational companies. Theatre is
always in search of truth and it searches for it into the minds and actions of
the real World.

Theatre has not gone extinct; everyday we are experiencing its evolved,
disintegrated and fused versions. In coming years, Theatre will receive more
attention from masses as it has the power to deeply touch human soul and catalyze
self-motivated transformations quite effortlessly. Considering that the search for
truth is at the root of Generation Z’s behavior, evolved Theatre seems to be a perfect
companion. Following are two ways in which spirit of Theatre is exponentially
evolving to partner with humanity at a much larger canvas.

1. Virtual Reality and Theatre: Once an audience member is placed in a
Virtual Reality environment, it will be next to impossible to engage her in a
passive experience. Audience is the ultimate Hero in this reality where she
chooses the World based on her strongest intent and momentum of
attention. Movement of such an environment is fueled by the inner
experience of audience and that is exactly where the expertise of Theatre lies.
Audience’s inner truth doesn’t need to be influenced to fit into certain pre-
determined limited options, as is the scenario with 2019 VR/Interactive
content. It will be made completely fluid and the momentum of experience
will be fueled by unique interaction of Audience’s inner world with the
virtual environment. As you read this text, Theatre tools are being used to
write adaptive algorithms to create holistic entertainment trips in Virtual
Reality environment.
2. Free Flight into ‘BEING’: Past generations of humanity were content being
‘guided’ to a point that they felt that this is the only way of life. For most of
our decisions, we seek out opinions of our peers, current social norms,
subject matter experts, life coaches and mystics. Seventy years old humans
 are readily spotted asking for opinions from others on simple life decisions.
All the generations, that are older than Millennials, will never get the reason
of asking – “When will I finally arrive? When will I stop seeking guidance and
allow myself to express my identity freely?” Incidentally, this happens to be
the primary question of Generation-Z. Theatre has done in-depth study of
humans in motion. The process of acting empowers one to dissociate from
her dominant ego and to assume a new one. Generation Z is always seeking
out for newer realities. It is a survival need for this generation as Technology
is exponentially advancing. Theatre tools enable a human to understand her
inner working, it puts one in conscious experience of her Time, Attention and
Energy. It terms perspectives and World-views as variables that could be
consciously altered. A Theatre based education program designed to put this
Mind-Body-Soul instrument into a free flight state where future is
interpreted based on a real time interaction with complete trust in the
moment, will enable Generation Z to be productively creative on demand.

Theatre is not just a space where actors tell a story in limited funds. Theatre starts
with one conscious breath and results in a wholesome experience called humanity.