Radically Remediating Dinner Theater
It is not surprising that dinner theater as a media form is being brought to life again in the midst of a digital explosion and after a few decades of notable absence in the cultural scene. A Wikipedia post gives credit to Chauncey O'Neil, “who began staging his own shows in his loft apartment on the north side of Williamsburg in 1999,” for sparking a revival of this art form so compatible with today’s media consumption behavior.
The modern audience, accustomed to constant and oftentimes intense interaction with digital media is naturally trained to deal with what Lev Manovich defines as a constant alternation between “concentration and detachment” as a product of the “continuous presence of the communication channel in the message.” Linear analogue media, such as TV or cinema involve the audience in the experience with little or no awareness of the medium itself, which can be contrasted with the digital experience of constant swinging between the technology [e.g. a website loading] and the message [e.g. the actual site], which is precisely what happens when experiencing dinner theater with its inherent interactivity [e.g. with waitstaff] and intense sensory stimulation [e.g. food and alcohol].
Manovich writes about “illusion, narrative, and interactivity” in the context of digital media in a way that can very well apply to the dinner theater experience: “The subject is forced to oscillate between the roles of viewer and user, shifting between perceiving and acting, between following the story and actively participating in it.” We do this every time we use digital media, the level of intensity varies with the purpose and context but the principle remains, which is why dinner theater might be set to make a come back, re-energized by artists and audiences that are naturally prepared to make the most of it.
Last week we had the pleasure of experiencing a “radical reworking” of this genre thanks Williamsburg’s performance/dining space Monkey Town, which joined forces with Accidental Movement and Mogollon to execute their vision of dinner theater designed to exalt and at points even overwhelm the senses via a combination of performance, music, video, blind menu tasting, and a choreographed selection of cocktails and wine.
Such a complex endeavor faces a critical challenge in the many decisions that must be made to prioritize the elements that are part of the piece. Prioritization becomes an art on its own, allowing performers to swing between being the center of attention, directors [of the audience], and part of a bigger whole. Unlike most forms of multimedia theater in which video competes with humans (to always lose amid noise and confusion), OutMigration achieved a balance that resulted in a progressive sensation of drunkenness, tickling, and happiness.
Let’s hope that these folks reunite in the future to keep evolving dinner theater as perfect entertainment for today’s hypermediated crowd.
Here are some pics from a June 27 rehearsal.
