Let’s Get Excited About Live Video Theatre: A Talk with Director Peter J. Kuo

Peter J. Kuo

• Irene Martinko

I’m going to go ahead and assume that if you’re reading this, you miss live in-person theatre. I know I do. And I’m certain that I’m not the only one who has been deeply affected by our need to cancel live performances. I’ll even admit that I groaned at the thought of watching theatre over Zoom. 

But thanks to the vision and creativity of director Peter J. Kuo, I now find myself excited by this new and evolving type of theatre collaboration. He and I (virtually) got together to chat about live video theatre and the amazing possibilities that technology has to offer the theatre industry in our time of crisis.

Peter currently works as the Associate Conservatory Director for the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. As a director, administrator, and teacher, he is often brainstorming creative solutions to theatrical problems. And now, in the midst of this crisis, he has found himself at the center of pandemic theatre as a pioneer of the live video theatre genre.

So what is live digital theatre? Is it film? Is it theatre? Is it a bunch of talking heads on a Zoom conference call that will make you feel like you’re still at work? And how did Peter become an industry leader of this new genre? 

When an MFA production of In Love and Warcraft by Madhuri Shekar at American Conservatory Theatre was slated for Spring 2020, it became inevitable that it would either have to move online or be canceled. When approached about the decision to go virtual, Peter responded without hesitation.

“I was like ‘Okay great! Let’s do it,” He said. “It was kind of exciting!” 

Collaborating with daring and resourceful actors, designers, and stage managers, Kuo was able to use his theatre experience, his film knowledge, and his background in creating online content to forge ahead. What he discovered was a truly unique and exciting virtual experience.

Though these productions are done live over Zoom, the actors aren’t just sitting at their desks looking at their cameras for an hour and a half. Kuo stages scenes as if the actors are in the same room as each other. He makes use of the ability to rename Zoom participants and uses tricks to make it look like actors are passing props back and forth between screens. 

He even uses video and animation in ways that you could never do in the kind of theatre that we’re used to, and he encourages audience members to engage with each other throughout the show using the “chat” function.

And Peter is consistently finding ways to build on the techniques that he’s developed. For instance, he spoke to me about an idea to work with actors in different time zones.

“You could play with both of them going outside and the lighting being completely different. What are the ways that we can take advantage of this?” He asked, excitedly.

“I’m technically directing for film, and what I mean by that is that I don’t get the ability of editing but I am creating depth,” said Kuo. “Do I want the world to feel flat? Do I want it to feel 3-dimensional? It’s thinking about the world and interactivity in a totally different way.”

Peter has managed to look at this virtual transition not as a disadvantage, but as a challenge ripe with possibility. What can you do with computers that you couldn’t do in other traditional mediums? What is unique to this creative process that could actually be really cool? And yet, he has also managed to maintain some of the familiar aspects of film and theatre that we love.

“There’s the liveness aspect of it. It’s happening live and there’s that adrenaline. If you mess up, you mess up,” said Kuo. “The other thing that people seem to really love is collaboration. That still exists in all of these mediums.”

So what does Peter have to say to those who are skeptical about this online transition? 

“To me, it’s really understanding the difference between spaghetti and pizza. If you like one, the flavor profiles are still there, it’s just delivered in a different way. And if anything, that experience leads to something else,” Continued Kuo. “If you come to eating a pizza with a knife and fork which I know some people do, you’re missing some of the experience of picking up the pizza and getting a little bit messy. I might be judging you a little bit, but I’ll allow it.” 

What I personally find most intriguing is that this kind of theatre is a new way of bringing people together during a time when finding a way to gather is a real challenge.

“Because the live chat is something that you can’t replicate really well in live in-person theatre,  the way that community gets built in that chat to me was one of the most unexpected things I saw,” said Kuo. “After one of the performances, someone who was very active in the chat tagged me in a Facebook post and said ‘And I also met my new best friend in a chat in the show.’ They didn’t even know each other before that. I think people are hungry to build relationships.”

So what advice does Peter have for theatre professionals who are interested in making the jump from in-person theatre to virtual but aren’t sure where to start? 

“The learning curve is huge. But you’re not gonna learn unless you try. Once you get into that curve, it suddenly becomes very easy, but the initial part of it is hard. You’re thinking about it in a different way, you’re engaging with it in a different way,” Peter offered. “And watch TikTok.” 

At the end of our chat, Peter offered a message about why we should invest our time, money, and energy into live video theatre.

“Right now it feels like our industry is at a pause and there’s so many artists who are unemployed, so many theatre-makers who are unemployed. I’m seeing some shows and theatre companies doing in-person shows which is triggering more COVID waves and the show shuts down,” He said. “I get the passion to want to create and also hopefully make some money and have a living. I think this format can do that. We just need that growing period of struggling with it and figuring it out. I want the industry to get going on this.”

To experience the exciting work of Peter J. Kuo, check out a performance of In Love and Warcraft by Madhuri Shekar produced by American Conservatory Theatre and Perseverance Theatre playing September 4-12. 

You can also keep an eye out for A.C.T.’s production A Christmas Carol this winter, which Kuo is adapting and transforming into a radio play.