interruption science and aesthetic exploration

It would make sense that the majority of the results for Interruption Science would lead to things like books and blogs on how to organize your life. Meet the Life Hackers addresses the idea of interruption in the workplace. Sure there are "good" and "bad" interruptions, and when the goal is getting work done, one must try and maximize the efficiency of the interruptions one faces in daily life. But this is not all there is.

When brought into the realm of aesthetics, the role of the interruption becomes something different entirely. Watching a play we do not want distraction. The cellphone going off is one of the worst things that can happen, especially in a rather quiet dramatic moment. We want to get lost in the performance, not reminded of the office. Of course, the role of the interruption has existed in theatrical theory for quite some time. Stage illusion can be as deadly and calcifying as anything else. But so too can an overly "Brechtian" performance.

One of the main currents in Brecht's Short Organum is the necessity of creating a theatre that speaks to a contemporary audience. All the trappings that we have come to see as "Brechtian" are due to the particular historical context in which he found himself, rather than inherent to the theory. What is inherent is a work that speaks directly to a contemporary audience, through the visual language we know as members of society.

Theatre as multitasking.

There are times when sensory overload can create a kind of deep focus that is otherwise unattainable. I went to a poetry event at St. Mark's about five years ago that had an activity which did just this. A participant would sit down at a desk in front of a typewriter while three radios blasted and several people would pick up various books and read passages from them. Plus there was the more distant noise of the crowd at the event as well as flashing lights, etc. etc. What I found when I sat down was at first total distraction and could not type a letter. But soon everything congealed as a kind of stream of consciousness automatism and I just wrote until I reached the end of the page. I hit an amazing level of concentration during that writing. The only time I have ever repeated that kind of concentration is sitting at a tech table during a run through for a show.

Layers of information create layers of meaning as well as degrees of distraction. Crafting these experiences is a delicate balance. What is a good interruption?

House of Lucky has a moment at the end of the first half where an incredibly drunk man collapses to the floor. When I lit this in 2001 there was a very slow light cue that faded to a blackout. Before the lights ever actually reached a total blackout they blasted back to a full brightness as our hero awakes with a severe headache. Interruption as focus.

Being a freelance lighting designer is a job that must manage interruptions. Discussions about the holocaust must shift on a dime to talking about a zombie musical. These are interruptions of the kind that everyone must deal with to greater or lesser degrees. This is a necessary element of modern life. Incorporating them into the realm of the aesthetic and deriving from them some kind of significance is a line of inquiry that has much room for exploration.