Variation #59: Owais Lightwala

Text:

“What you seek is seeking you.”

― Rumi

Image:

Sound

Suburban Beast cordially invites you to rihannaboi95 

A viral performance by Jordan Tannahill

Attend by visiting www.ustream.tv/channel/rihannaboi95 or visit www.suburbanbeast.ca for more info

Sunny needs to talk about what’s happening, but he has to do it where no one will find him. Because Sunny, aka rihannaboi95, made some videos and while yeah, they’re getting lots of hits, some people at school found them too and now the eggshell world he so carefully treads is threatening to collapse beneath him.

Cloistered within the bedroom of his friend Keira, a Shopper’s makeup queen, Sunny records a video for his loyal viewers, invoking his YouTube namesake when he needs her most.

Dealing candidly with bullying, queer identity, and the pain of self-invention, Jordan Tannahill’s rihannaboi95 invites viewers to watch a live performance from the privacy of their own computers. Directed by Zack Russell and featuring Owais Lightwala as Sunny, rihannaboi95 will be dispatched nightly from a Toronto bedroom at 8pm from April 23rd – April 28th 2013.

Can online promo videos sell theatre?

What makes a video go “viral”? Everyone seems to be giving it a go these days, and Toronto theatre companies are no exception. But are these videos an effective way of selling a show to an audience?

Here are three promo videos of current or upcoming shows in Toronto as examples. What makes a video “forwardable”, and what would make you post a video on Facebook? Has a video like one of these ever propelled you to buy a ticket to a show?

Tarragon Theatre, The Misanthrope

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3NUVfn7Cjc

Crow’s Theatre, Eternal Hydra @ The Factory Theatre

Suburban Beast, Bravislovia as part of Rhubarb @ Buddies in Bad Times Theatre