One very good thing that the current Lockdown has exposed is the amount of culture that can now be streamed and downloaded online. So much so that on some days our inbox is so overloaded with invites to such a wide variety of new offerings that it’s all overwhelming.
Not all of it is good ……., actually some of it is downright bad , and we guess that the producers of the crap think we may be too bored at home that we will never notice. Sorry guys but we do and we are not slow to start web surfing all over again.
Now however we have found a new friend to help do all that for us. Over in the UK a life-long theatre-kid called Tyler Stoops has come to our rescue. He has created THESPIE a brand new platform for discovering theatre and the arts.
Tyler, well we don’t know him personally so we will call him Mr Stoops, decided that theatre and the arts make the world a profoundly better place by helping us navigate our humanity. Secondly he thought that people would experience more theatre if he made it easier to discover and access.
He knew that the current global disruption has devastated the arts sector, but audiences are still finding joy and solace in theatre streaming and digital resources. These are vital, even in normal times—hundreds of millions don’t have the access or economic means to be ‘in the room where it happens,’ but are still part of the broader theatre community and craft their own journey of discovery.
So with starting THESPIE he built a platform to facilitate that personal journey: giving us tools to discover many facets of the theatre ecosystem. By working with artists, theatre-makers and organisations THESPIE curates and combines listings on a single platform that will enable people to discover art forms they may not have otherwise discover to access,
It is great to be able to now know how to access Sheridan Smith’s award winning performance in Funny Girl, or the filmed Broadway performance of Lin-Manual Miranda’s Hamilton. Possibly equally exciting is less-known musicals such as Me and My Dick performed by the University of Michigan in 2009
As well as Filmed Performances, Thespie also covers Audio Performances, Livestream , Artist Talks, Podstream , Films, TV Shows, Student Guides etc. They seem to cover the waterfront . The LGBTQ content is not too big right now, but it does include upcoming gems such as Nathan Lane’s Tony Award winning performance in The Nance which is a real must see.
Joining THESPIE is free as our many of the productions they list, but some organisations do charge their own viewing fees.
