Well, it’s official. After weeks of back and forth, I’ve finally convinced Son of Semele Ensemble, the theater company I’ve been working with for the past two years, to let me redesign the website based around a blog. The idea, at least initially, is to get the people involved with the upcoming production of The Mysteries blogging, which will allow our audience to better connect with what we’re doing, allow us to understand our audience’s expectations and interests, and provide better communication both inside and outside of the company.

There are very few theater blogs out there (the only one I read is Rob Kendt’s The Wicked Stage), and as far as I know there aren’t any actual theater companies which blog. This should be an interesting experiment. I’m so pleased that the Artistic and Managing Directors jumped on this bandwagon with me. I’ve been brewing this idea ever since I started reading blogs like gapingvoid. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve quotes Hugh MacLeod in our marketing meetings. If “the market for something to believe in is infinite,” then I think SOSE is on the verge of putting forth some very exciting things to believe in. 2004 was a big year for us - cover of American Theatre Magazine and all, but along with the newly launched Family Lab (an un-development workshop for SOSE members only) which began last night, it looks like 2005 may be the year that SOSE starts talking - to each other, to the audience, to people who’ve never heard of us.

I’m hoping that the blog will help undermine a lot of the political posturing that goes on in theater companies by making things transparent - if everyone’s watching, all the time, it should mean that we’re all on our best behavior, and working as hard as we possibly can, right? It’s like how a rehearsal suddenly becomes uber-productive when there’s a reviewer present. Well the people watching now - our audience - are even more important and more deserving of such attention. The blog should also help us compare notes with other companies we like, and possibly even facilitate collaboration in the future. Of course, I’m also thinking a bit further down the line on how we can actually use the site to influence our work in the theater. Seeing as how our second show of the season is very music-based, I’m trying to wrap my head around using podcasts in one way or another, or sponsoring a remix contest that might end up in performance. Any ideas on how blogtech might influence live performance? Post them below.

I’ll be posting about the development process over the next few weeks. The goal is to have the new site up by the end of February, but I’m so excited that it’s finally happening that I might try to beat that launch date. I’ll also be putting together a packet on blogging for the luddites in the company, so any resources you know of for beginning bloggers would be much appreciated.