What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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"This has been a whole moment of growth for us, and each product that we've put out looks a little different," adds Jones. "With 'Russian Troll Farm,' it kind of elevated it to the next level, especially taking those technical aspects into consideration, because they spent some time working on the script and getting into that development process, but then they started to block for Zoom. And so they had camera positions, their setups in their homes, their backdrops, their ring lights and their cameras and their microphones to help pick up sound better. "So these actors learned, along with the directors, Jared and Elizabeth, how to do this blocking for Zoom, to create this new world. And that's a part of why 'Russian Troll Farm' is almost elevated in some ways, because we were truly making digital theater. It really challenged us as to what we could do in pandemic times with making theater." Rivas says the company has gotten better at mastering and exploiting the technology for all it has to offer with every project — like the Latinx Theatre Project's "Heroes and Monsters" that debuted via Zoom in September. "We were trying to get at this play, which had not necessarily been written for Zoom, but definitely was being written in a world of URL and not IRL (in real life)," Rivas explains. "So seeing all of the options that would be possible through watching 'Russian Troll Farm' just before we were about to jump into [the Arkansas New Play Festival] with 'Heroes and Monsters' definitely sent up little light bulbs in the members of LXTP." In the end, all of the pivoting and learning and rolling with the punches paid off in a big way with national press notices that could make a real difference in the organization's level of success going forward. "I've seen that, with the success of 'Russian Troll Farm' and the other pieces during the pandemic, that every time an article came out, especially in The New York Times or something like that, there will be a lot more [play submissions] that come in during the week," says Singleton. "So, definitely, as the profile of our theater rises, there will be many more submissions that will come along the way. And the agents call you back a lot faster when your profile rises, and that's good because agents are such a huge part in building those connections." As the conversation unfolds, one look at the beaming faces on the Zoom call makes it plain that it's not all about what might happen to the company in the future as a result of the national press. A great deal of the sentiment is about what is happening in the here and now, as T2 staff continues to stand shoulder- to-shoulder with their teammates, constantly adapting to the shifting ground underneath them as they doggedly make theater for a community they love — against all odds. "The only reason we can do this is because we live in this remarkable place, in this remarkable community of people who have been our audience for 15 years," says Bell. "What I hope comes from this is that they feel a little bit of pride in this company they have helped build, and that we can find more audience members right here in Northwest Arkansas. Because that's who we're doing this for. We make plays in Northwest Arkansas for Northwest Arkansas." "[Working] under the shared, bonding burden of a global health crisis I think has been both taxing and has really deepened relationships in a way that will last a long time," says Miller. "Because it feels like we're all doing something together, and it's important, and it's tough. And I hope what comes out of that is just a really indelible trust." 38 WHAT'S UP! DECEMBER 27, 2020-JANUARY 2, 2021 T2 Continued From Page 12 TOP 5 Rebecca Harris (left) plays Marie Curie, with Leontyne Mbele- Mbong as her close friend Hertha Ayrton in "The Half Life of Marie Curie," one of the productions streamed by T2 to virtual audiences. Artistic Director Robert Ford says the theater company had to learn how to film stage productions for digital viewing quickly. "A huge decision early on was we're not doing TV, we're doing our plays — we're staging them as we would plays. And then we're going to try to capture that experience as much as possible on tape," he says. (Special to the Democrat- Gazette/Wesley Hitt for T2)