The theatre niche of the social media stream operates much like any other Animal Farm and in this particular backwater Animal Farm I am a donkey who has lived a long time. Hang around long enough and one sees the patterns of people entering and leaving or the ebbs and flows of the heat of the conversation. One also sees topics come and go, but there are gestalt topics that come up daily or near daily, chief among them: “What’s the point?” The theatre-makers’ equivalent of “why are we all here and what does it mean?”.

There is a common push in this question of theatre’s relevance to prove real world payoff or in the buzzword “return on investment”. For purveyors of traditional narrative theatre it can be a tough sell. Proving hard value in collective experience is voodoo statistically, which is why I think the reaction around #2amt and 2amTheatre.com to Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) and to Conspire Theatre has been so positive. These programs demonstrate a clear, visible social benefit to these skills we share.

I have been a fan of Conspire Theatre for some time as they have grown and become a core part of the Austin theatre community. As they take the next steps toward expanding the program I reached out to Kat Craft, Executive Director and Lead Workshop Facilitator, to gain a deeper understanding of how Conspire operates their program and what their plans are for the future.