We’re already seeing shorter running times on Broadway, as you may recall from this study we did. That’s the most obvious repercussion from our new goldfish like brains.
But over the next ten years, we’ll see even greater changes to help satisfy what our new audience needs to get them to focus. Here are some things that I think will change:
- Shows will get even shorter.
- 90 minutes will be the new two hours and twenty minutes. Same amount of story-telling stuffed into a smaller box.
- We’ll have more lighting cues.
- Every time light changes, it’s like a little palette cleanser on the brain, forcing it to reset and start paying attention again.
- Expect more sets and more spectacle.
- The days of the “Drawing Room Drama” are coming to an end. The next audience will need more stuff on the stage to keep them engaged. And that stuff will have to do stuff.
- Tech will be key.
- Tech is practically a food group to the Pesky Whipper-Snapper set. So the next gen? They’re going to want it everywhere.
- Classics will face challenges.
- How will Death of a Salesman be told to the next gen? What about
Romeo and Juliet,Hamlet,any of Shakespeare’s plays? We’ll need some creative directors for shizzle.
- How will Death of a Salesman be told to the next gen? What about
- Dialogue and direction will get quicker.
- Expect more Mamet and Sorkin-styled plays in the future.