Telling Your Story as Simply as Possible: A Lesson from Edward Albee's Occupant

By: Sam Ford, PepperDigital

The insightful conversation surrounding colleague Rob Longert's recent post on the differences between a James Taylor and Jay-Z concert has driven me to think a little bit more about the intersection of storytelling and technology.

As anyone who reads the blog regularly knows, I came to Peppercom by way of MIT, where we spent a lot of time studying narrative in a digital age, and the potentials of "transmedia storytelling."

The key to the phrase transmedia storytelling (or any other term we want to use for a narrative that branches across multiple media platforms), however, is storytelling.

By that, I mean that all the technology a creative team can muster won't make up for a story that's lacking.  When new technologies for storytelling come around, the beginning of the process is often creating a narrative that gives someone the reason to use said gadget.  The problem is that, for audiences, new techniques wear off quickly, so we rapidly return to the principles that always matter most: the story itself.

It’s a lot like my colleague Johnny Sha said here on Friday about Web design: use the technology for what it's good at.  If Flash animation is truly the best way to get your message across, use it.  However, if it adds nothing, don't add it.

All these thoughts were running through my head as I was sitting in the theater at the Peter Norton Space early this month, watching the Pam MacKinnon-directed production of Edward Albee's Occupant for Signature Theatre Company, a play about the life of sculptor Louise Nevelson.

The play is actually a posthumous interview with Nevelson by a character known only as "The Man."  So, we're crammed in a small theater for the evening watching an interview between a character who we need to know so little about he doesn't even have a name and an artist I admit knowing little about going in, acting on basically a bare stage.

Yet it was captivating—whether or not you are interested in the least about the life of Louise Nevelson.

While I can't speak to the veracity of her performance, since I'm one of the "people on the street" who wouldn't know Nevelson if you stopped and asked me (the basis of one of the conversations from the play), Mercedes Ruehl was riveting in the lead role, and Larry Bryggman was, as always, wonderful, playing the supporting interviewer role.

So there it was.  No need for flashing lights, video screens, or any other technological advancement, just building up for the crescendo of the reveal: a large tribute to Nevelson's sculpting work that the understated staging only served to highlight that much more.  Just a play by a wonderful writer, featuring two of the best actors one could find on stage.

That doesn't mean I'm any less enthusiastic about the ways in which technologies can help tell stories, whether they be fictional narratives, journalism pieces, or packages from public relations professionals.  The message at the heart of this post is to always tell a story as simply as possible.  If a technology enhances that story and helps you get at the heart of the message you're trying to convey, incorporate it.  If not, don't muddy the waters.  Remember that the best stories of all are often the simplest.

Unfortunately, Edward Albee's Occupant has now closed, but you can see a variety of reviews here.  And, not to paint the production as being completely unconnected from technology, there was an interesting social media component, as interns working on the production provided blog posts about its development from first to last rehearsal, to the opening and an interview with Edward Albee.  Also, see the intern podcast here.

(As an aside, Ruehl shines, but I'll admit that it was Bryggman I came to see.  His two Daytime Emmys for the 35-year portrayal of Dr. John Dixon on CBS soap opera As the World Turns is—as a whole—among the best collection of television acting work one will find.  That makes it a particular shame that Bryggman was phased down and eventually out of the show, in part because his character was diminished to a small supporting role, as many veteran soap opera actors have been.  Just as good storytelling transcends technology, it also transcends age, a point often lost on the youth-driven television industry.)

Comments

[kokomjolk]

My first headline thought involved loneliness and dehumanization, leading me to a different play by Mr. Albee...I am such a nerd.

I think one of the toughest things an agency can do is to keep things simple especially when they have all the bells and whistles, the experience to use them, and a client who is breathing fire for their needless use. It takes a confident art director to stay minimal.

Nice going, Sam, dig what you're up to...

[Sam Ford]

Great points, Cory. Is the customer always right? My wife once ran a tuxedo shop, and there was a new employee there who would tell people who came in to rent a tuxedo that what they were choosing looked horrible. There was a lot of debate over whether that that was the right thing to do or not; after all, a bad outfit was perhaps out there sending the wrong message, yet it's still in the end the customer who's making the statement.

There's no easy answer in that regard. However, it's important to always keep in mind that it's your reputation on the line alongside a client's when it comes to a project, so it's tough to balance being wary with executing the vision of the entity paying you for a job.

[kokomjolk]

something about truer words and having never been spoken.