Having participated in Darren's workshop for the GVPTA Making a Scene Conference, I am interested to hear his response to HIVE, one of the most exciting theatre events of the 2006-07 season here in Vancouver. HI VE, a co-production of the eleven companies that make up progresslab, was a spectacular event made up of 11 short, small-audience pieces, with a central bar where audience figured out how to participate in each of the shows. The site, a former funeral chapel, insired some site-responsive performances (for example, New Worlds' autopsy of doughnuts in the embalming room, and Radix's conversation with the dead), and provided blank canvas rooms for others (Felix Culpa's Trojan War with action figures, or The Only Animal's The Tempest in a bed). The participatory nature of the event definitely stuimulated conversation amongst audience members - exchanging useful information about how to see each show, how long each would take, and what their top picks were, but also, a bit of one-upmanship about the number of shows seen. The free-flowing alcohol and dance party atmosphere kept the social interactions flirty and fun.
HIVE was a successful example of how event-based programming can shake up performer-audience relationships, which I think is an element of where Mammalian Diving Reflex's Social Acupuncture wing has been headed. The performers in HIVE used quite a few classic texts and straight-up theatre techniques (including fourth wall), though, not to mention really imaginative other worlds. Where does the imaginary live in Social Acupuncture? Did seeing HIVE shift your thinking on the place of the imaginary in your own practice?
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