A Fare Play: Theatre in a Taxi Cab
Could “reality theatre” become as big as “reality TV”?
Both the New York Times and NPR’s “Marketplace” radio recently highlighted a unique new theatrical production in Manhattan. The play “Take Me Home” by Alexandra Collier originates in an operational NYC taxi cab. The maximum audience is just three people – all in the back seat.
During the play, the driver/actor navigates the cab around NYC, weaving in stories while synchronized, rehearsed action occurs on the streets and sidewalks. According to the Times article, “The story that unfolds…has you on full alert…[as you] scan the passing landscape for fragments of street life placed there for your benefit.”
This article continues, “Part of the deliciousness of the concept is that you become unsure what is staged and what is just New York.” Maybe this play works best in a large, cosmopolitan city offering prime people watching.
Blurring Lines. In the NPR story, the play is described as “an utter blurring of the lines between stage and reality…” An audience member, Elena Cohen, described it as “definitely unlike any cab ride I’ve ever taken.” She added, “Something about that view out the window, it’s like being in a movie or something almost.”
That’s exactly what the playwright intended. “I want people to fall through the looking glass,” Collier explains, referring to how the little girl Alice was transported into an alternative world in Lewis Carroll’s 1871 novel.
“Take Me Home” ticket prices range from $25 to $50 for a 45-minute ride/performance. With three shows nightly, nine people is the maximum audience – still fewer people than the cast of 12 people. Obviously, these economics are challenging for a sustained run. The play’s producer appealed to grant-making organizations and individual donors. Volunteers also donated countless hours.
Aspiring Stars. Compare this “reality theatre” cab production to reality TV shows, which networks like because they’re relatively inexpensive to produce. Writing staffs are smaller and “real people” performers don’t command high salaries. In fact, open auditions often attract hundreds of aspiring stars.
How can innovative, immersive theatre like “Take Me Home” sustain itself? Maybe the producers could tap into the same psyche motivating wanna-be reality-TV stars. Broaden the concept of the play by expanding its cast. Recruit audience members to act minor parts in future performances and charge them for their chance to act. These new “actors” and “actresses” would help attract audiences through personal connections, social media and word-of-mouth buzz.
The father of English playwrights, William Shakespeare, may have predicted this evolution over 400 years ago in “As You Like It”:
“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players…”
(Act II, Scene VII)
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