In order to prepare the audience for the experience of Coven-19: Magicks for Unprecedented Times, we sent them some community agreements, a list of things to bring, and a survey that asked them to indicate what levels of participation (video on, speaking out loud, writing in the zoom chat) they were comfortable with. In that survey, we also asked them to choose a tarot card out of the four above - each corresponded to a different breakout room as follows:
Queen of Pentacles: Breath/Found Objects
Queen of Cups: Gesture & Music
Queen of Swords: Writing & Drawing
We didn’t offer any details about which room the audience member would end up in until they received the invitation to join it during the performance, so there was an element of mystery and intuitive choice in the pre-show survey.
Here are the community agreements we shared with the audience:
In order to create a space we all feel brave in and that respects the needs of the audience and of the coven, we ask you to agree to the following and the coven will do the same:
no screenshots or photos during the performance
feel free to turn your video off if you feel more comfortable that way
eat or drink throughout the performance if you’d like
if you’re so inclined, add your pronouns to your name in zoom
allow yourself to be fully here - consider putting your devices in another room
and closing all other tabs
We wanted to create a space that felt like our rehearsal space, because we built a space that was flexible and adaptable to everyone’s needs and felt like a place where we were all equipped to take care of ourselves and each other. Some of the most important things about our rehearsal space is that everyone in the coven could feel free to take a break from appearing on video, and that everyone could come as they are - if they needed to eat dinner, or came to rehearsal in their pajamas, that was a-ok. We wanted to extend the same grace to the audience.
Here are the items we asked folks to bring:
something you love to eat or drink
a candle (or other light source)
a comfortable space to be in
The thing to eat or drink and the candle/light source were for the opening ritual, and many of the breakout rooms made use of pen and paper.
We wanted to be really intentional about how to set the audience up for success and to communicate the nature of the performance and what their experience would be, while leaving a little room for curiosity (like what each tarot card meant).