Blog 4

In class today, we were talked about hate speech and protests and my first reaction was to link some of our in class examples to The Westboro Baptist Church.  As most of you know, they protest funerals of a lot of different groups, including homosexuals, soldiers, and even celebrities who just support those causes.  They really publicize their protests and make people talk which I think makes it theatre. It’s a performance that gains a nation wide audience through the media.  However, what I think is even more incredible is the response.  Through media outlets like facebook and especially tumblr, we hear about students and other people that are against what the Westboro church that make walls to keep the church away from these private events. 

A recent example of this is from this past Feburary after Michael Sam came out as an openly gay professional football player. The Westboro Church headed to Missouri once Sam came home. They tweeted “Yes! Westboro made it to @mizzou & we got just the light to shine on this dark @mikesamfootball fag mess, @espn!” (@WBCsays Feb 15, 2014).  They linked a photo, but since then, twitter has taken it down. Immediately, fans and supports created a human wall to block out the protest and keep Michael Sam safe from the hate speech that was about to take place.

I think the best way to change theatre and bring it into the 21^st century is to add technology into the mix.  We will never be able to prevent people from using their phones in the middle of the show.  One of my favorite things from the NBC show Smash, is when they used real time tweets into the fictional show Hitlist. In the show, the show was in previews on Broadway and didn’t quite click with the audience. But adding in the technology really enticed the audience.  This song, I’m Not Sorry, uses a rockstar-esque stage to really grab the attention of the audience (lights, rock music, reference to the VMA’s) and then adds the twitter bit at the end.

The twitter bit takes place at 2:35-end