about the process

A Day is a rather cinematic play. So it was particularly fun to explore for virtual theatre!

the schedule

We recorded each scene of the play separately and edited them together in post. This let us have fun exploring the cinematic themes and aesthetics hinted at in the play. It also made things easier for our geographically-distanced team, including one performer Zooming in from 6 hours ahead!
Most of our 'rehearsal' days were actually 'capture', or shoot, days. This meant that we sometimes set up, rehearsed, teched, and recorded 1 or more scenes all in 3 hours!
We filmed in 3 different locations: over Zoom in the actors' homes, in person in Studio 201, and in person outside. Within those indoor spaces, our designers created a total of 7 different 'sets', keeping a hint of theatricality in the play's world.

remote rehearsals

We bounced between 3 programs for capture, which required some creative liaising. When capturing video, our media team, cast, and director were in OBS and the rest of our team stayed on Zoom. We couldn't communicate verbally to each other, so our designers texted adjustments to our director to read out to the cast!
We found our flow with breakout rooms. In the virtual world, you never run out of space! Our stage manager created 3 breakout rooms for our cast to cycle through on particularly busy capture days: 1 for designers to check set, lights, and costumes, 1 for sound checks, and 1 for rehearsing & recording. Sometimes, we even ran 2 recording sessions at once.
Because we shot scenes out of order, we had to pay close attention to continuity. During video captures, dramaturgy took screengrabs of each actors' set up and costume so that we could refer back to them for continuity later.
Remote rehearsals allowed us to work with people in many different places at the same time, unlike a traditional theatre process. 22 amazing theatre-makers brought this story to life from 3 different countries and across 5 time zones! Zoom in or scroll around the map below to see where all of our collaborators were located.

in-person shoots

We captured parts of A Day that take place in public spaces in Studio 201 and in the streets of Pittsburgh.
Capacity was limited to our director, stage manager, some designers, and 1 performer to ensure social distancing. The camera feed was streamed to Zoom so that the rest of the team could watch from home.
Everyone had to keep their mask on, including the performer. Our director and media designer navigated this by shooting from creative angles that hid the performer's face. We used the challenge as an opportunity to explore how people operate differently in public vs private space.