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a method of post-show reflection for teams to engage in continuous improvement
The stakes of Navy SEAL missions are often life and death. The price of failure is high. This is why SEALs implement a practice of continual improvement, including an After Action Review. If you want to keep improving your work, take a page from the Navy SEAL playbook.
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a recording used for post-show analysis
Game tapes are what sports teams use to analyze their performance after playing a game. It’s a good way to review the details of what happened once players are no longer caught up in the heat of the moment. Game tapes are also valuable tools for inter-actors. Playing in an interactive scene is different from watching one. It’s easier to see things from the outside that you may have missed while you were playing. Reviewing your work from a more objective perspective helps you see what you’re doing well and what can be improved.
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When you finish playing with spects, as wonderful as the experience may have been, the most significant value is still waiting to be had—the opportunity for spects to reflect on the journey they just traveled. This not only serves spects by giving them the time to consider their experience, it also provides you with valuable feedback to hone your interactive skills. Whenever possible, debrief spects after playing with them.
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Audience participation is nothing new. Magicians, comics, clowns, and street performers have been dragging “volunteers” into their acts for years. They don’t give their victims much of a choice. To be fair, their purpose isn’t usually to empower participants; it’s to have a foil to play off of. As an inter-actor, your agenda is different. You’re looking for a participant who will become a co-creator of the story.
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There are many forms of performance where interactive skills are used. Before exploring them, let’s clarify terminology. The word “interactive” and “immersive” sometimes get used interchangeably, but they describe very different things. Immersion is when the story world surrounds you. Interactivity is when participants and performers co-create the story. Both can exist within the same experience to varying degrees. The amount of interactivity and immersion varies by form. With that in mind, let’s consider the many kinds of experiences where interactive skills can be employed.
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a performed story co-created by spect-actors and inter-actors
Interactive performance is characterized by performers and participants co-creating a story while playing roles. The story may be based on a written scenario or improvised from nothing. In any case, spect-actors contribute to the narrative and affect how it plays out.
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A magician climbs the steps to a platform, high above the stage. He is covered with a cloth. There’s no place he can hide. The platform is raised up into the air. At this point, if you try to figure out how the magician is going to disappear, you’re too late. It doesn’t matter how closely you watch. The trick has already been done.
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the spects’ introduction to an interactive experience
Interactive experiences come with a wide variety of expectations. Some expect participants to hold back and observe, while others want them to get in the middle of it all. Some expect no physical contact, and in others, there’s no avoiding it.
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