GONZALO’S MAP
The Project
Gonzalo’s Map is a multiplatform piece that weaves together digital and analogue forms of communication as it tells the story of three characters that belong to different worlds. Created by Laura Vingoe-Cram, Mary Vingoe, Garry Williams and Kiana MacBonnell, Gonzalo’s Map is a loose sequel to Shakespeare’s The Tempest. It is centered around Prosper, who is dying in a long-term care home, estranged from his family and Ariella, his sixteen-year-old granddaughter as well as Gonzalo who seeks to reunite them.
The project was conceived of as a multiplatform, durational piece which would take the audience on a week long journey through TikTok videos, live streams, and Zoom calls as well as include physical media such as letters. It seeks to investigate how the gulf of technology has been created between different generations and what happens when someone needs to bridge that gap.
Artists
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Growing up in the Annapolis Valley, Kiana Josette discovered a passion for the arts when she was in elementary school. She is a 22 year old based in Halifax, Nova Scotia who participated in various activities in music and acting including; dance, flute in her high school band, the Annapolis Valley Honour Choir, and many plays and musicals.
Kiana has recently been in “Gonzalo’s Map” an online theatre experience (Keep Good Theatre), “I Hear You” web series created by Amy Trefry, “Media Release” by Koumbie (Neptune Theatre - The Chrysalis Project), and the Canadian production of “SLUT: The Play” (Lunasea theatre).
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MARY VINGOE, OC MA, is a director, playwright, artistic director, teacher and actor who has worked across Canada. Recent directing credits include Wendy Lill's the Glace Bay Miner's Museum for the National Arts Centre and Neptune Theatre, Catherine Banks’ It Is Solved by Walking for HomeFirst and White Rooster Theatres as well as the world premiere of Lill's Messenger for Eastern Front and HomeFirst Theatres and Marlowe' Edward ii for UBC's Theatre and Film and The Cherry Orchard for Memorial University in Newfoundland.
Vingoe has co-founded four major theatre companies in Canada. She is the founding Artistic Director of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival at Canada’s National Arts Centre in Ottawa where she served from 2002- 2007. She is a co-founder and past Artistic Director of Toronto’s feminist Nightwood Theatre, a co-founder and past co-Artistic Director of Ship’s Co. Theatre in Parrsboro, and founding Artistic Director of The Eastern Front Theatre in Halifax. Vingoe was Crake Fellow in Drama at Mount Allison University and recently was Adjunct professor at UBC’s Department of Theatre and Film and Visiting professor in the Theatre Department at Memorial University in Newfoundland, Grenfell Campus.
Vingoe’s has written extensively for stage and radio. Her play Living Curiosities, about the 19th century giantess Anna Swan and PT Barnum is published by Playwrights Canada Press. Living Curiosities was elected to PCP's celebrated surefire list in 2016. Her play Refuge about the fate of an Eritrean refugee claimant to Canada, has seen recent productions in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. Refuge, published by Scirocco Press, was a finalist for the Nova Scotia Masterworks Award and was shortlisted for the 2016 Governor General's Award for Drama. Refuge is currently being developed by CBC as a TV series pilot. Her most recent play Some Blow Flutes about a family torn apart by dementia, is published by Scirocco Press.
Vingoe has been the recipient of a number of Honours including Dora Mavor Moore (Toronto) and Merritt awards (Halifax) as well as the Queens Jubilee Medal and the Portia White Prize, Nova Scotia's highest award for artistic excellence. In 2011she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for her contribution to Canadian theatre.
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Laura is a co-artistic director of Keep Good (Theatre) Company and freelance director based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her recent directing credits include Crypthand (GaleForce Theatre), Love and Information (The fountain school of performing arts), The Children (Keep Good (Theatre) Company), Miss N’ Me (Eastern Front Theatre) Interactions with Art (Halifax Theatre for Young People) Time of Trouble (Opera Nova Scotia) Constellations (Keep Good (Theatre) Company). She recently completed a year at the Stratford Festival working as an assistant director under Nigel Shawn Williams and was a member of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction. In 2015 she graduated from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow with a masters in theatre directing.
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Born to artists, Garry comes by his love for performance and writing honestly. He co-founded DaPoPo Theatre in 2004, and remains the company’s collaborative Artistic Director. Based in K'jipuktuk, he has worked with companies including Us-vs-Them, One Light Theatre, Two Planks and A Passion, Villains Theatre, Festival Antigonish, Lunasea, Shakespeare-by-the-Sea, Unnatural Disaster, Prismatic, and – most recently – Ship’s Company. He has received six Merritt nominations for his work as composer and actor, and was awarded that distinction for his original score for the musical KAMP (EFT/Neptune). He is delighted to be co-creating Gonzalo’s Map with Keep Good Theatre.
The Residency
Before the DDI
Prior to the residency week, Gonzalo’s Map was able to run a prototype production at Keep Good (Theatre) Company. They had a test audience of fifty people from various generations and technological skill levels. One of their goals with the prototype was to create something that was as accessible as possible and therefore they chose to streamline all of the content through email and youtube links. The goal was to create intergenerational discourse and the team was very cognizant of not alienating anyone who might find more advanced technologies difficult.
Over the course of a week, the test audience would receive fragments of communication that illuminated the story of Ariella reconnecting with her grandfather. In audience surveys, it was noted the enjoyable nature of experiencing a narrative spread out over the course of a week and that it gave folks time to digest what they were watching/reading. Spreading out the narrative also created a sense of anticipation for each installment and enticed people to keep engaging over the course of the week.
Given the success of their initial prototype, the team wanted to focus on developing the storyline and character development as well as digging deeper into how different technologies might be used in the future. They had a strong idea of what worked and what didn’t work from the first draft but felt like they were lacking some digital skills moving forward. Some roadblocks that were identified were a lack of digital/software literacy as well as a lack of equipment/budget
While the prototype used platforms that already existed, there was a desire among the team to explore a custom web solution for the project. Some of the feedback that they received about the prototype was that not all of the audience members enjoyed getting the material via email and that they would rather have a hub for the experience to live on.
Prior to the residency, the Keep Good (Theatre) Company experimented with the technology’s ability to extend a theatrical performance throughout time via email and YouTube:
The goal was to create intergenerational discourse and the team was very cognizant of not alienating anyone who might find more advanced technologies difficult.
During the residency
Due to Covid-19 restrictions in Nova Scotia at the time of the residency, this group had to meet entirely virtually so some of the original workshop plans had to be adjusted.
This group found a lot of inspiration from the presentation of Adil and Scott and was drawn in particular to one of the examples they showed Decameron Row, an interactive digital experience that was created in the summer of 2020. The interface of Decameron Row is simple and intuitive with the majority of the experience contained on one webpage. When users reach the site they are greeted with an illustrated row of apartments. In a sea of darkened windows, one flickers, beckoning the user to click on it. Clicking on a window plays a video from one of the 100 guest artists who contributed to the project and provides a glimpse into the life of someone who was in quarantine. After watching a video, its window stays alit so that eventually all of the buildings are fully illuminated.
For the Gonzalo’s Map team, this piece really highlighted the effectiveness of a simple user experience combined with a compelling design. It also sparked investigations into what amount of liveness is actually necessary for their piece; is it still a live experience if all the content is prerecorded but the audience is interacting with it in a live way? Another aspect that the team found inspirational from Decameron Row, was its durational nature; videos were uploaded periodically throughout the summer and users would have to check back in to get more content.
A continuous point of investigation for this group throughout the week was accessibility. How do you create a piece of work that encompasses multiple platforms while also keeping the user experience simple and not alienating anyone who might be less tech-savvy? A lot of thought was given to what the onboarding process for an audience member might be.
Research was done over the week to dig into what visually defines a decade or a generation. Which colours and motifs are reminiscent of each decade? How do you inform an audience member about when they are without saying it explicitly? Looking at how content was produced in different eras can provide information on how to create these visual clues as limitations and the processes used always shape the media of a time.
In the post interview after the residency week, Keep Good (Theatre) Company’s thoughts could be summed up :
Although the digital experimentation lacked the key element of theatre for many in the company (being present together in physical space), there was great appreciation for the increase in reach and accessibility the digital sphere provides.
Post Residency
After the residency, the group is very interested in continuing their explorations into the spectrum of liveness as well as furthering their visual and dramaturgical research. While there were still some technological roadblocks, the group felt that they were more able to tackle them going forwards and felt a bit less overwhelmed with the potential choices.
When asked about what they thought Digital Theatre was, the group had a spectrum of responses. Kiana felt that it is able to create expressive pieces that create feelings that can’t be felt in physical theatre while Mary felt that the live element of being in a physical room with people is so core to the concept of theatre that she wasn’t sure if this new medium should be called theatre. Garry was intrigued about the opportunity for everyone, experienced theatrical practitioners or not, to learn new tricks and techniques and felt that it equated to a reshuffling of the theatrical deck with some added cards. Similar to Mary, Laura felt like it’s a different medium entirely and that theatre itself is tied to the liveness in a space. She agreed that a sense of community can be created online but wondered if theatre was the right name for it; is calling it theatre actually a limiting term? Among all the definitions there was a general expression of excitement for further digital exploration regardless of what the medium is called as well as an appreciation of the potential increase in reach and accessibility.
Tools Used
Miro was used to visually brainstorm the user experience. A map of embedded content was placed on the board with arrows designating potential user paths. Miro was also used to collect visual research into the different decades.
