in times like these you might expect there would be music about what is going on, films investigating the concepts (many quite good actually), other activities, painters painting (a few) and so on, to establish depth to conversation and communication instead of enforcing ideological limits and functioning in limited parameters, reinforcing traditional feedback loops corruption relies upon especially plays, literature. perhaps some of the latter in its detachment or documentary aspects or parallels yet where is the cultural insight of those most free on earth- why the silence when searching for 'play on surveillance' that would have theater delving into realm of importance and providing critique, frameworks to evaluate ongoing situations within, instead of- well, seemingly nothing. - of - the - most - free - people - in - the - entire - world - with nothing to say or views to share about this situation, not using their rights or freedoms -- adding up to nothing fucking disgraceful. shameful, self-indulgent, self serving hypocrisy. as if bureaucracy must sign off on everything. no allowable risk. disneyification of the entirety of culture, endless reruns of previous ideas and interpretations yet no one with enough insight to frame this given picture? or is it fear that holds people back, silence is safety no one willing to take a stab at it, and then another to regain a space and place lost to complacency and lack of will, responsibility, greater purpose than money certainly playwrights of the past would have engaged, though what about direct engagement, for understanding to model the situation and evaluate it as only theater can do, to create other atmospheres that capture these situations and make what is ineffable due to abstractness tangible, realized, understood, and relatable through use of actors and storytelling and stage and props, scenery my contribution to this, as a structural idea for plays about surveillance society, free for use as a concept: that a stage with one person, at other times two people (or more) could exist as if on a basketball court, whereby bleachers would exist on either side of the main area 1) this could involve a central stage with two bleacher wings, splayed out facing an audience as if vanishing perspective 2) else it could be an actual school gymnasium with large bleachers where a theatric performance takes place see: concept for stage design and structure for play https://www.dropbox.com/s/pic7z1x1sqdj8az/concept.gif here is the idea. people in the bleachers are surveillers, they may either sit on the sidelines, and then aspects of the play could move in parallel in these other dimensions (geospatial, store tracking, license scanning, credit card history, database mining and advertising, listening to calls and keyword mapping, metadata, tracking receipts, etc) in version 1 (above) they would then be functioning the _background, otherwise invisible to the people in the center of their daily lives, behind this hidden threshold of rules, laws, language that forbids understanding of this condition at the same time it defines the existence and actions of the people warping or skew of data, the hypocrisy of tracking details by companies or reselling of data, public-private profit strategies, extortion, blackmail, political abuse, marketing, web adverts, social network mapping, any of this commentary introduced into this position of the actors at center stage as they relate with others, such as using the phone or a computer, as this links to people or topics, 'feedback' as various events occur in version 2 (above) the same dynamics could occur though with plants in the audience, sitting amongst others in the bleachers, perhaps people wearing all black suits, dark glasses, holding strange equipment, and instructions for those in the bleachers to relay messages (the telephone game) where a signal is passed along regular routes and thus input is transformed by output, then passing this data back into the play, as improvisation. for instance, a "secret" could be passed into the bleachers by an informant, and then by a defined route, 10 or 15 people in a given line or sequence (marked by graphics) could be part of this flow of data, having to relay what they heard one to the next, to get the data to the black suited mystery people, and thus the message they receive is then output as signal back into the play, to those center stage or others who are inacting with it, such that 'traveling to sign-ville' then becomes 'unraveling the dollar bill' when later output, etc thus, this kind of conceptual format would allow creative expression and exploration of issues, perhaps it would be best and most informed by technical consultation with privacy or security and-or other experts, including data from those surveilled, such that a larger sense of what this involves could be sketched for citizens so that its impact and importance could be gauged in a context of daily living, to what extent this data gathering and this tracking and watching is going on, and what principles it is currently be driven by and how laws do not exist that can constrain its functioning against citizens day to day, and that everyday situations involve these dimensions and issues of privacy, security, and such exploitations playwrights have the unique skills to convey such cultural messages and raise consciousness, and do it in a memorable and intriguing and innovative way. where is the equivalent of the Snowden of playwrights, perhaps such a format could be reinterpreted by a dozen or more playwrights, from varying angels or degrees or settings. what if the structure is modular, and can add, subtract, or modify the ideas of other plays using this structure, and thus open or free source the play for interpretative exploration and development. it is the information and the perspective that is important, the truth of what is going on. theaters are places for living ideas, not the continual regurgitation of those dead and lifeless as if highest value or truth. there is missing data of today, who is willing to approach to present and convey what it involves, using all the resources available to transmit important information and ideas, start and sustain the conversation beyond its existing, stifling boundaries freedom does not exist if it is not made use of. and it goes away if seeking permission to do something, because somewhere along the line it may involve risk. but isn't it worth trying to do something and seeing what the real situation is, and then knowing from that, then to not even try, not even do anything, and supposed to know by not taking it on, accepting defeat without ever fighting there have got to be some playwrights willing to take on these issues. if they exist, hopefully so, it would be interesting to see what such plays involve in their content and approaches to conveying and conceptualizing issues of cyberspace, hacking, surveillance, attacks, and so on 929-2010 780-2888 810-4356