Innovators Showcase 2020 – Featuring The Forum Collective
Through the Innovator Incubator, PlayGround supports the launch of brand-new artist-driven innovative theatre companies and the development of innovative new works for the stage. This year-long intensive program culminates in an annual new works festival, the Innovators Showcase. This year, we have taken the opportunity of digital theater in a pandemic age and expanded our programming to allow all our second year cohort the chance to produce and present their own projects of whatever scope they pleased. Resultantly, this year’s 2020 Innovator Showcase is a robust three weeks of live-streamed performance, developmental readings, digital web series, and live panels on artistry and activism all free to watch from the comfort of your home!
In this post, we feature the launch of The Forum Collective and the debut of their digital webseries Ether.
The Forum Collective is dedicated to creating a new structure of journalism theatre. Focused on shared governance, its members mirror an editorial board when analyzing a central piece of work in relation to a political, social, or historic trend. This structure allows the company to redefine journalism theatre and detach from traditional hierarchies that have previously excluded marginalized communities.
Overall, their multidisciplinary projects blend live performance, visual & audio art, written articles, and digital data compositions. The end result relates to different types of people and learning styles while deeply exploring a central topic. Additionally, the company’s development process focuses on in-depth interviews, research, and community outreach to showcase the nuances in the narratives of marginalized groups. This unique mix of structure and intention leads to work that speaks for, to, and with audiences.
Ether is a devised, episodic anthology series of interconnected stories during the COVID-19 quarantine. Inspired by interviews with real people, each episode follows a character’s individual struggle to maintain their mental health, familial ties, and personal relationships as their world changes around them. Devised by Francisco Rodriguez of the Mexican American Theatre Conservatory and Marisa Gabriela Ramos, the premiere episode is “Calling Card” — a piece about two Latinx siblings struggling with isolation. The following will focus on mental health in the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. The first two episodes featured in the showcase will be pre-recorded and include a live panel discussion of the work immediately following with the creative team and the community members connected to each episode’s story. The final presentation will be a live-streamed performance about the fallout of the 2020 Presidential Election.
All of our 2020 Showcase productions are free of charge to enjoy, but we encourage our audiences to support these new companies on the cutting edge of digital theater with a donation similar to the cost of a ticket, or at any meaningful amount. At a time of unprecedented financial struggle for performing artists across the globe, your donation keeps Bay Area artistry alive. Click here to donate to The Forum Collective today, and check below to watch archived footage or reserve tickets for upcoming Showcase events!
Weds, Nov 18th, 7pm PT: The Forum Collective presents
Ether, Episode 1: “Calling Card”, devised by Marisa Ramos & Francisco Rodriguez
To register to watch the On Demand recording of this performance, click here!
Sat, Nov 28th, 2pm PT: The Forum Collective presents
Ether, Episode 2: “Untitled”, devised by Sharon Shao & Ryan Takemiya
To reserve free tickets for this performance, click here!
Sun, Dec 6th, 7pm PT: The Forum Collective presents
Ether, Episode 3: “Untitled”, live performance devised by Julius Rea
To reserve free tickets for this performance, click here!