Christina Baily in Looking for JJ, photographer: Louise Buckby
Annual Report 07-08
This year Pilot Theatre worked on several major performance projects including our biggest ever event – a multi media performance for the opening ceremony of the IIFA Awards – allowing us to reach our largest and most diverse audiences to date. Simultaneously we have developed our digital and online strategy which supports both our performance work and extended activities such as workshops and residencies in schools. In the next year we will continue to develop new work and partnerships, and to explore the possibilities open to us as a theatre company in the 21st century. For Pilot Theatre this includes the creative potential of digital technology for live performance and as a tool for building creative communities. We began this process with our nationally touring production of Looking for JJ, which integrated digital technology in every aspect of the production. The success of this approach was evident in the feedback we received from our audiences. Our presence on social networking sites MySpace and Facebook, our Second Life hub (the first from a UK theatre) and our YouTube channel are now well established, and have been a great way for audiences to interact with us, but it doesn’t stop there.
We are looking ahead to the possibilities presented by the next evolution of digital technology; it has become an intrinsic part of creativity and collaboration, particularly in work for and with young people. It is already enabling the development of our new work, including Lord of the Flies and Catcher in Their Eye, and we are so excited by the potential across arts organisations that we have created a forum for debate: Shift Happens, a conference in partnership with York Theatre Royal and Arts Council England on 3rd July 2008. We’re confident that you can find a way to engage with us as a company in a way that suits you; we are always open to ideas. So catch up with us onstage, ontour, and online.
Marcus Romer Artistic Director April 2008