“Midsummer Set in Space with Zombies”

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.”

Brene Brown

If I say theatre helps create an innovative mind, I won’t get much push back from the theatre community or the business community. However, both fields will take it at face value with a bit of, “yeah, yeah, yeah.” 🙄 Wave it off as something someone says to be relevant but not really mean it. 

Well I’m proof that it’s true! 💁🏼‍♀️

I work in innovation. That’s my career, but I developed this succinct talent for uncovering innovative ideas from theatre. 

As an actor you must frequently come up with innovative ways to make a character fresh and exciting to the audience without crushing their personal vision of the character. This is subtle innovation. 

As a director you have the opportunity to take classics and play with them to make them relevant to the times. For example, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, set in space with zombies, is going to draw in a younger crowd and an eclectic mix of Shakespeare fanatics. 

Using innovation to revive a show is nothing new in the theatre community. 

The innovative ideas that are successful are the ones that take a look at the world around them and incorporate what’s going to be popular in the coming months or years. 

Hamilton is an excellent example of innovative thinking in theatre. It’s an historic tale, with a modern cast and music. Broadway was screaming for something fresh and Lin Manuel Miranda responded. He didn’t get lucky. He did his research, kept a pulse on the theatre community and the world, listened to actor and audience feedback, and  created something new. That is innovation pure and simple. 

All aspects of theatre require innovation; lighting, stage manager (have you ever tried to keep a cast of 50 quiet?), set design, costuming, etc. Innovative theatre is just as impactful to the world as digital innovation.

If you’ve ever taken part in any way in a theatrical production, you are learning how to be innovative. I’ve carried these nuggets with me throughout my career. I am not lucky when I find new digital fintech (finance and technology) companies or make predictions in the future of AI (Artificial Intelligence). I do my research, keep a pulse on the digital community as well as emerging technologies, solve common issues and complaints, and create something new. 👩🏼‍💻

Innovation is all about observation, listening, and gathering feedback. Then developing a product the people love! Theatre gifted me that skill to carry forward into my business career. 

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