Stagehand - A Live Theatrical Video Game (Thursday 7 & 9 PM)

Eggtooth Productions, The Academy of Music Theatre of Northampton, and The Shea Theatre of Turners Falls present a Live Theatrical Video Game called Stagehand. The show takes place on Zoom on October 22, 23, 24, and 25th at 7 pm and 9 pm each night.

Staged as a live performance, audience members of Stagehand join the show from home via Zoom to experience this intimate adventure from home. Discovering the unusual powers that come from exploring a live environment via a virtual interface, groups of four will be connected to an in-show avatar that allows the group to search an entire theater full of stories, objects, and characters.

Developing a relationship with their in-world avatar, audience members make choices about where to go, what to look at, and who to engage with, much in the style of a first-person video game. As director John Bechtold offered, “We are exploring that blurry line between a live action video game that blends into live theatrical experience.  What stories are possible when you leverage the immediacy of theater with the powers of virtual connections?  We think there’s an exciting playground here to bring the human dynamic into a remote world. We hope that theater lovers, gamers, and brave adventurers will come on this adventure with us. We’ve created this work at a time where two jewels of the Valley – The Shea Theater and the Academy of Music – sit mostly dormant. Even in this time, however, these theaters retain the power to inspire their visitors. Stagehand makes these spaces primary characters amidst an ensemble cast of wonderful Valley performers. We look forward to inviting you in.”

Upon arrival, participants check in via a private Zoom call and are sent into this world as a character named Charlie – a stagehand put on a mission by their elusive director. Across the night, the members of the cast, who have taken to various corners of the building while the director is out.  Very quickly, a host of mysteries and oddities surface for the audience to unravel.

Working from a new and exciting form, Stagehand offers live engagement with characters, explorable spaces, and a building full of questions waiting for answers. As a Valley-based theater company, Eggtooth is excited to produce a show that is also a love-letter to our local theaters that we love and miss.

The event will happen on the following dates:
Thursday, October 22nd, 7 – 8 PM
Thursday, October 22nd, 9 – 10 PM
Friday, October 23rd, 7 – 8 PM
Friday, October 23rd, 9 – 10 PM
Saturday, October 24th, 7 – 8 PM
Saturday, October 24th, 9 – 10 PM
Sunday, October 25th, 7 – 8 PM
Sunday, October 25th, 9 – 10 PM

Access to a computer with microphone, camera and speakers, a basic understanding of Zoom, and a good internet connection are required. Audience members should be 14 years and older.