Twitter and Theatre

I don’t want this blog post to be a commercial for Twitter… but it might venture close to that territory. If I cross a line, I do hope you’ll forgive me. All I want to do is make you happy. And I promise you: Twitter can make you happy, 140 characters at a time. No, really. I can give you five reasons, in fact.

#1: Networking

In the time I’ve spent on Twitter – I keep it open in the background while I’m working most days, and pop in to join the conversation several times a day for anywhere from five to forty-five minutes– I’ve had the privilege to tweet with a rather stunning collection of brilliant minds from throughout the theatrical ecosystem, from producers to directors to fellow playwrights to everyone in between. I’ve established creative partnerships; I’ve met people who have subsequently read, produced, and promoted my work; and I’ve also been able to help others in turn. Our meetings haven’t been limited to the virtual space, either. I’ve turned Twitter friendships into real-life connections that genuinely mean a lot to me.

#2: Ideas

Diving into Twitter headfirst – following a bunch of people, chatting with strangers, overhearing all manner of crazy schemes – can seem overwhelming at first. Quickly, however, the ability to dip into the Twitter stream any time you like feels like having ready access to more ideas than you even knew existed: new voices and new perspectives about theater, engaging and challenging and enriching you. Time spent on Twitter has made me a better playwright and theater blogger, for certain: more aware of the world in which my work and my own ideas exist, for sure, and more ready to learn.

#3: Questions

Virtually every day, it seems, one of my fellow theater Tweeps – a slang term used to refer to the people you follow – asks the Twitter stream a question. “Name your all-time favorite theater documentaries,” someone asked recently. Another wanted to know how to troubleshoot a lighting instrument that wasn’t working well. If you need to know the answer to almost any theater-related question, and you’ve made enough theater friends, you can just plain tweet what you like to know, and the answer will appear to you shortly. Yes, you could go to Google… but why not go directly to trusted peers and experts instead? (Hint: a good place to start is the #2amt hashtag; just do a search on that term and you'll be off to the races!)

#4: Fun

One of the side effects of having so many cool and creative people hanging out together, even if only virtually, is that the word games never seem to stop. For two straight days last summer hundreds of theater practitioners were making up names of imaginary superhero plays. (Aquaman of No Importance, Arms and the Batman, and so on.) The banter you can easily access makes the whole Twitter stream feel like hanging out with a really good, really tight cast and crew. Yes, there are sometimes arguments, but they often lead to new insights… and, for the most part, they almost always remain civil.

#5: Dialogue Practice

Finally, a benefit to Twitter that belongs specifically to playwrights: dialogue practice. Imagine having to keep all of your lines to 140 characters or less. Sure would compress your wordiness just a bit, wouldn’t it? Especially since you need to write quickly just to keep up with the rapidly-moving stream… particularly if you’re following a great many people. I find that if I can boil an idea down that small, and do it within a minute or so, without sacrificing the rigor of my thinking and self-expression, I’m usually onto something.

If you’re still not convinced by my five reasons, however, let me make a suggestion: join Twitter, follow me (my screen name is @GwydionS), and watch me tweet for a while. Follow some of the people I follow, too – many of them might even have names you recognize. And then, when you feel ready, jump in and say hello. I promise to give you a warm welcome!