(Soloski’s article appeared in the Village Voice, 1/4.)
Picture a show with no video, no projection design, no treadmills moving scenery on and off the stage. Easy enough. But now imagine a theater without recorded music, without amplified sound, without electric lights. No simple feat. Actually, can you recall the last time you saw a play without any technical assistance, a show in which the media wasn't somehow multi?
In January, New Yorkers enjoy two major festivals—COIL and Under the Radar—as well as satellite events and individual productions, most of them described as experimental, many of them actively engaged in questions about the use of stage technology: Are new developments a way to enhance live performance, or does mediation interfere with the very idea of liveness itself?