Jennifer: My favorite performance was "Missed Connections." I was amazed by how accurately it could resemble my own IM conversations with my ex-significant other. There were many times that I was in the exact same position, chatting with my ex online, mad about something that he did or, more likely, failed to do, which I would kind of insinuate. He wouldn't get it, and so I would finally blow up. Then my ex would apologize over and over, and say that I meant everything to him, and blah blah blah, all of which would eventually placate me. Towards the end of our relationship, the arguments would also devolve into him accusing me of something, just as it occurred in the Missed Connections skit.
Seeing my own life played out on stage was both unsettling and illuminating. I could see far more clearly how IM conversations work, how they both facilitate communication and lead people to misinterpret meaning. It struck me that so much of the conversation would have been a non-issue if the conversation took place offline, or that the argument would have been resolved much faster and easier if it hadn't taken place online.
While IM makes it easier to stay in touch with people, it also takes away the benefit of seeing people's body language. Even little things like putting the wrong punctuation can change the whole meaning of the conversation, forcing users to take even more time to either clarify what they said, time that could be put to other, perhaps more constructive, activities.
Diane: The event was entertaining with lots of food, drinks, and people that love technology, the best part of the event was watching the members of Berkeley's Media Theatre Workshop performing on stage. The three plays demonstrated how technology and computer based communication programs can cause us to perform in unpredicted ways every day of our lives. The play called "Missed Connections" was humorous and witty. I thought the story was well put together because everyone in the audience can relate to this story.
Most people who chat online can relate to this performance or have performed like the characters while using this form of communication. How ever, allowing the audience to observe the chat boxes and communications between the two characters projected on the screen made the performance more personal and felt as if we were in their private lives. By far, my favorite short play was "Best E-mails Ever," because this kind of narrative happens to us every day in our lives. The play illustrates how people performing and communicating through technology has brought them closer together. Each character demonstrates their best email they have received and I know we all have one "best e-mail ever." While each short play had something special to them, I could sense there were a lot of time, commitment, and love put into the performances. It was a moving experience to watch my talented classmates from New Media perform and engage with each other on stage as they perform with technology.
Jonathan A.: I thought that the piece "Best E-mails Ever" was one of the more successful pieces in examining the intersection between performance and technology. The images projected onto the screen behind the performers really helped to enhance the stories that the actors told. They aided in establishing a sense of community among the actors and a feeling of warmth and comfort for the audience. The projected images of Dekyi's friend who was searching for love helped to personalize the story and attaching a face to her words helped to draw the audience in. The live actors recreating the iamge provided a nice button to close the story, creating a link between the reality of the images to the world of the actors. The image of the sonogram in Josh's story also provided such an emotional link for the audience. Even though we did not see any other of the people mentioned in the other stories, such as Mark's mother, the images of the profiteroles and the animals helped to personalize the stories for the audiences.
The piece did make me think about whether there will be some important e-mails that will take their place in history. However I think that at the moment, e-mail is still considered informal and is highly personal, so it may take some time before we have some historically significant e-mails. The piece also made me think about my own life and what I would consider my best e-mails ever.
And some random thoughts and questions from Evan:
_ Not only did this media theatre workshop pulled off a great conclusion to the semester and for the Holiday season but it provided some of its' audience members a newfound insight on their own performance with technology.
_Maybe ?? these performances with up-to-date technology should be upgraded annually and performed so that as each generation of audience emerges from year to year, it will allow a better understanding and grasp of New Media and the way it has clandestinely cemented itself into our lives from the moment we begin adapting ourselves to technology and its' culture.
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