With the rising popularity of streaming, many have tried finding new ways of enjoying theater from the comforts of their own home. But beyond just theater, some have tried experimenting with new challenges to the theater experience. One such group has found its way to YouTube and the concept is an interesting one, to be sure. From Parley Productions comes a new Live-Streamed YouTube series, Proofs, created by Dustin Hageland & Rebecca Tourino Collinsworth.
With a new, experimental, and process-oriented video series, A challenge is set forth to playwrights to technically challenge them with one of six prompts. They are then given a week in order to complete and submit their work to Parley. After which, a few select actors perform a cold read of the script on the live-streamed broadcast.
I was available to view such performances when the channel began its broadcast this Saturday. It took about 8 minutes for the stream to begin and started with a very creative, hand-drawn intro. After which it introduced the name of the performance in question, and the reading began. On the left side of the screen, the script was shown and scrolled down the screen as the actors read through their lines. the actors were on the left side of the screen as they appeared to be reading over a Zoom call. it was quite a fun and unique way of presenting a read-through of a script and was thought to be a fun way to experience this project.
The broadcast consisted of seven different scripts, written by Miriam BC Tobin, Carol Y. Lee, n8 heneghan, Carolynne Wilcox, Nelle Tankus, drew david combs, and Dustin Hageland. It features Sam Turner, Kelly Johnson, Terry Boyd, Denny Le, drew david combs, Isis King, Samantha Vasquez, Roger Estrada, Barbara Lindsay, and Charles Waxberg. Each script presented was unique and fun to read, along with the actors presenting. While each script came from the same prompt, each one also had a different tone from the other, with some scripts being more serious and others with a more humorous tone. These scripts dealt with various adult languages and topics, such as swear words, sexuality, and other topics. Each script was presented with a title card and the name of the playwright who wrote the script. what really assisted these scripts were the actors who were chosen to perform the cold read. the actors really had fun with this performance, using their phone’s lights as props, shaking the webcam of their camera, and other actions done by the actors, really assisted in the immersion and the overall feeling of genuine fun that these actors had with their performance.
That being said, this broadcast wasn’t really perfect. Between each script read, there was some kind of weird transition that ranged from advertisements for other plays and works of Parley to someone in a chicken mask with a guitar. This is never properly explained or brought up. The prompts for the script and the overall premise of the video were never explained or brought up. It leaves those who don’t really read the description in the dark about what they are watching. I feel like an introduction by Parley would’ve gone a long way toward explaining to new viewers the concepts and themes of the scripts and the video.
Overall, I found the overall experience fun and engaging. I definitely liked all the actor’s performances, and each script was fun, unique, and imaginative, despite the restrictions of the Zoom call and the deadline of one week to write the scripts. I highly recommend checking out this experimental series on YouTube if you are a young adult, with an interest in challenging theatre.
Check out their YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@parley productions
