INTERVIEW: ‘See You’ asks why people live 24/7 on social media
Photo: See You comes to New York courtesy of The Bridge Production Group. Photo courtesy of the production / Provided by Emily Owens PR with permission.
When reading this article, how many social media accounts are open on your desktop? How about your nearby smartphone? Is someone texting you? Using What’s App? Is there a YouTube clip playing in the background? Tweet lately? Have a Finsta on Instagram? Ready to Snapchat?
All of these questions and more are explored in the new play See You by Canadian playwright Guillaume Corbeil. His show will be presented by The Bridge Production Group at The New Ohio Theatre in New York City from Sept. 4-21.
The play follows five friends who enter into a competition and decide to broadcast every minute of their lives on social media. Of course, this premise is not exactly a fantasy anymore given the proliferation of reality TV and 24/7 social media.
At the helm of the production is Max Hunter, founding artistic director of The Bridge Production Group. Recently he exchanged emails with Hollywood Soapbox about the new show. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What was your immediate reaction when you read See You for the first time?
I was struck by how Guillaume Corbeil’s text utilizes a shared digital vernacular as structural building blocks; the play is written in the language of online communication, without ever commenting or winking at the conceit.
To write a play about current technology runs the risk of speaking down to an audience or slapping an expiration date on the material when the technology becomes outmoded. Guillaume succeeds by capturing an energy and spirit about how technology has impacted human discourse, but always returning to focus the narrative on the relationships between five friends. In stylizing the language, Corbeil allows the play to speak to completely realistic human behavior.
Do you believe the play is a cautionary tale for audience members and how they might use social media?
Absolutely. See You satirizes the need to share every moment from one’s life, and working in that environment puts into stark perspective the absurdity of ‘performing’ a life for an online audience. The curated sense of self that we are able to create can be so at odds with the true realities of a life — the play explores that gulf, and stretches it to a breaking point. These characters aren’t judged for social behaviors — this is a shared world they all buy into — and the play simply asks, ‘Look how much energy this behavior requires! Is this something you want to spend your limited time pursuing?’
Have you changed any of your social media habits after working on See You?
I haven’t changed behaviors, in so far as I barely use Facebook and/or Instagram to document my life. I have a fairly strong addiction to Twitter, but that explores a desire to perform ‘bits’ — comic commentary on daily news, etc. I enjoy having a specific voice and perspective, but it doesn’t necessarily correlate with a need to perform perfection for the outside world.
While the play takes realistic behavior and throws it on the stage writ large, the cast and creative team have had several conversations about more-finely recognizing these toxic social media behaviors in the real world since beginning work on the play. Something something ‘Hamlet holding a mirror to society’ something something.
How have rehearsals gone for the production?
Rehearsals for See You have been a tremendous collaboration between the cast and myself. This is the most tonally difficult play I have ever worked on, and directing it feels often like conducting a musical score. Recognizing and leaning into the specific rhythms of the text has been an incredibly rewarding challenge, and working to marry performance with play structure has pushed our actors to explore the entire range of their tool set.
As we now enter our tech process and gear up for performances beginning Sept. 4, I am so excited to layer on the visual design components that further explore these themes and give a physical environment for our theoretical playground for our five friends.
Are you happy with The Bridge Production Group’s work so far?
I should hope that I’m happy with the work being produced by The Bridge … I am the artistic director! Each season, we continue to grow: We explore how our approach to activating plays can be used on new and challenging texts, the collaboration between Resident Artists continues to deepen our dissection of specific material, and audiences continue to return to an experience they expect will be thought-provoking, intellectually interactive, emotionally stimulating and entertaining.
In past seasons, we have produced revivals both old old (Shakespeare) and just regular old (David Hare), commissioned original work, sponsored developmental labs for emerging voices, and collaborated with outside companies on joint projects.
I am delighted with the step that See You represents in our company’s trajectory — providing a thrilling international playwright with his New York debut — and eagerly await audiences to join us in the process to experience Guillaume’s biting wit and incisive commentary.
When did you first fall in love with theater?
Middle school. The girls, the attention, the angelic high voice that was too pure to last … What’s not to love? I made out with Laura Hallman backstage during Guys and Dolls, and she missed her entrance in Guys and Dolls. I mean, come on. Life didn’t get better for a little Jewish boy from Westchester.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
See You plays Sept. 4-21 at The New Ohio Theatre. The show is courtesy of The Bridge Production Group and directed by Max Hunter. Click here for more information and tickets.
