Musicals, plays, biographies. Theaters have always held a place in telling stories and entertaining people. However, with the growing scenario of streaming platforms, the screens took over the place of going out to enjoy a good presentation.
Within the last few years, keeping the cinema and theater industry alive became a rare thing, but this situation has been changing with social media promoting this area and the new generation consuming each day a bigger amount of content related to it.
Social Media is the Key
The effect of using social media for everything led to a context where any subject is accessible. TikTok and Instagram reels helped directly to promote and grow content about theaters. Big and small creators post videos about stories or promote the plays, which makes an action that only the internet can: connect people all over the world without having to make a big effort. Producers of theatrical plays can promote their work at home and make thousands of people look forward to it.
Given the idea that the new generation spends so much time on screens, stages reinvented their way of spreading their plays. Shortcuts of the presentations are posted on social platforms, and the little “spoilers” about the plays create a feeling of curiosity, leading people to go and watch. They also bring up interesting facts about the act and the backstage, showing the public how things are done and what they can expect.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZlMgy1tmSd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Not only that, but many stars of theatrical plays also post on their own social media pages about their characters, routines, situations between scenes, and fun facts. This initiative connects the audience and the actors, leading a bigger group to buy tickets and enjoy the play. Fabi Bang, a famous actress of the Brazilian theaters, uses her social media to talk to her followers about her characters, doing backstage vlogs and theatrical makeup removal, making the new generation feel closer to the plays than with TV shows on streaming platforms.
With this scenario, theatrical plays are reinventing their way of promotion, and everyone from the cast also helps with it. Nowadays, the internet allows people to form groups and feel included when they like something, and this idea makes some content reach a larger number of people, as it happened with theaters.
The amount of videos that are being produced by fans and the producers/cast makes the consumers of theatrical arts grow, which helps to keep the industry alive in a hyper-connected to streaming platforms generation.
The whole point is that social media is helping teenagers to actually value and admire a kind of art that is different from the usual, creating a bigger bond between audience and actors.
The energy of being alive
The fact that the play is happening in front of the audience, with no screens blocking them, creates a different connection from other kinds of performing arts.
Feeling a part of what’s happening, the play involves the audience differently. In the theatrical world, the actors can appear among the audience and talk to people; besides the fact that the sound and visual effects are very close to those watching, which creates a feeling of actually living the performance, and not only seeing it.
These small details change everything. The idea of being a part of the play creates a feeling of “wanting more”, and the promotion that happens around social media attracts a big group of people to also join and enjoy the experience.
Another fact that is contentious in the new generation is the act of performing. Going to the theaters is being built online as much more fun and “aesthetic”, which makes younger generations look forward to it. Seeing something live makes the experience more “touchable” and allows the audience to actually be part of it.
This feeling also leads those who really love acting to try to be a part of it, growing the theatrical industry each day.
In a world dominated by Artificial Intelligence (AI), going to the theaters to see real people doing real acting became something much bigger than “just going out”. It’s a way of pursuing a human-to-human contact, and the assistance of social media creates an audience filled with people who crave the feeling of actually living something while watching a performing arts play.
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The article above was edited by Isabelle Bignardi.
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