Designing for Live Performance: Fuch’s Questions, Visual Research & Concept Sentences for “Privacy”

Fuch’s Questions:

The World of the Play:

The space on this planet is split between the London and NYC.  The Writer starts in what appears to be an intimate setting with Josh Cohen in a therapy session.  When the Writer changes location to NYC, the world opens up, both physically, and emotionally. The time in the play is linear, occasionally pulling people into the Writer’s conversations. The hidden spaces comes across in the idea of how people are using other people’s data, possibly for better or worse.

The Social World of the Play:

The social world of the play is very much public. While the play deals with the very real issues that can erode privacy, I feel that overall, the Writer has very little that is truly private. The figures aren’t expressed physically.  The just appear in the play when they’re needed, and exit when they’re done. Some characters, like the Hairdresser, aren’t specifically described. They could be male, female, or of any race. While characters who are actual people, are named, even if they’re not described physically. It’s either assumed that it doesn’t matter, or that you know what they look like.

Power in this world, seems to belong to those who hold the user’s data.  They can see the bigger picture, and some could argue that they know you better than you know yourself.

What Changes:

The Writer learns that while opening up can be a good thing, it is ok to do it on their terms.  That if they’re never going to be that person that puts themselves out there all of the time. That it’s ok to be an introvert in an extroverted world.  Yet, they still have to interact with the world at large, and that the fear against doing so, can only be overcome by talking to others.

Concept Sentences:

  1. Privacy is about self acceptance. 
  2. Privacy is about our private lives, and how we curate the self we show to the world.
  3. Privacy is about understanding that we’re all really just pretending.  That everyone is working on accepting themselves and finding their place in the world. 

Visual Research: