TheSharedScreen’s powerful adaptation of Stephen Belber’s hit play Tape—featured last month in DC Theater Arts (Using Zoom in a new way to create theater that transforms how we see)—returns live on line for six performances only, Fridays and Saturdays February 5 to 20, 2021.
Tape is a stunning demonstration of the intense intimacy and hidden potential of virtual theater. It is not a reading or streamed or post-produced stage performance. Originally written for three people in a motel room and now adapted for three people on Zoom, it is a full play performed as a video call. In it, a woman and two men, a high school love triangle, are forced to confront accusations and denials of rape 10 years later.
“It was so powerful and intimate I stopped breathing for awhile.” — Audience member
“When a piece of theater incorporates a new format into the play itself, and takes it to new levels, then it can make for an artistic revelation. Such is the case with TAPE.” — Jed Ryan, Lavender After Dark
Tape draws you into the world of the players in unexpected and transformative ways. It is as if each player is speaking directly to you. The intensity of their conflicts flows through you. You become a silent, invisible witness inside their lives, seeing them precisely as they see one another, eye-to-eye.
“That’s never been done before. It’s extraordinary. You just can’t look away.” — Audience member
“I felt like a voyeur actually. I’m watching and they don’t know. I loved that.” — Audience member
Tape opens the door to theater as engaging, provocative, and intense as any other form of dramatic performance or, for that matter, any other medium. Belber’s play has been recognized worldwide for 20 years as a powerful exploration of rape, coercion, consent, manipulation, and truth. In this unique adaptation, the play’s moral and ethical conflicts land with a profound, visceral impact. TheSharedScreen is breaking ground for all theatermakers to create readily accessible works that demand our attention and understanding.
“A breakthrough not only for theater but for human consciousness and interpersonal ethics.” — John Stoltenberg
“It puts us right in the center of the question asking us, So where do you stand? How are you going to change it?” — Audience member
Tape presented by TheSharedScreen performs live at 8 pm ET Fridays and Saturdays February 5–6, 12–13, and 19–20, 2021. Lobby opens at 7:30 pm ET. No intermission, 90 minutes. Live talkback follows. Tickets, which are free, are available online.
