FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (faq)

I know playback is “supposed" to be live. Is Zoom playback any good?

Believe me, we were skeptical ourselves as to whether we could create the same personal and impactful connections with our audiences over Zoom. Happily, playback companies across the globe have risen to the challenge to “pivot” to the online environment, creating new forms and new ways to adapt and exploit the Zoom platform. After rehearsing over Zoom for almost a year and incorporating these innovations, we are happy to say: it works! We are thrilled to have received feedback from our online performances about the power and intimacy that our Zoom performances create. We are happy to have been able to extend our reach - thanks to online accessibility - our last public performance was attended by participants around the globe. We like it so much, we hope -when the pandemic is over- to be able to still use virtual performance in addition to our in-person offerings.

What stories can I expect to hear from my community?

While every audience is different, BAPT works with clients to determine the shape or theme of a performance which guides what types of questions we ask and how we frame the event.  In improvisation we don’t ever fully know what to expect but by embracing this “emergent space” we create a container that allows for honest and authentic sharing. Organizers are often surprised by the depth and breadth of what comes up and out of a particular theme that highlights an unexpected lens or angle to the topic/theme.  In this way, playback often illuminates things beyond planners’ expectations.

That being said, you can expect to hear stories that encompass every shade of the human condition.  The stories are happy, sad, poignant, cathartic and redemptive.

You can also expect the stories to be connected in some way as hearing something someone says can prompt a story in an audience member who then wishes to share.  This “red thread”, as it is called in playback, illuminates unexpected connections between community members and creates an empathetic response to people’s stories.  Playback is a wonderful tool to create understanding across ideological or cultural divides - and why we use it so often for fighting stigma and exploring “difference”. 

Isn’t Improv funny and “just for laughs?”

What happens if someone doesn’t like your enactment?

My community is special…will playback work for us?

While many improvisatory theatre companies use forms for the purpose of comedy, playback theatre attempts to reflect all aspects of our tellers’ stories. Using empathetic listening and deep respect for our “tellers”, we try to elevate and illuminate what’s been shared while we stay true to the tellers feelings. It is always our goal to honor our tellers’ stories and leave them feeling empowered and heard. P.S. Big Apple’s playback often contains moments of humor!

Thank you for asking! Part of the ritual of playback is “checking-in” with the teller about their response to what they have seen and heard in our playback. Since our goal is to serve the teller - this is an essential component! We prioritize honesty and sometimes we miss an element of the story. We have many options to “get it right” which involve doing the enactment again or playing back a portion of the story that the teller felt was missed. It is important to mention that our playback is not a *literal* retelling of a person’s story. We use artistic expression to capture the story and the “essence” of what has been shared. Most of the time, tellers feel heard and honored with what we choose to present.

One of the strengths of playback is its versatility. It involves non-literal acting, movement, music and poetry, so it is accessible to a large range of audiences across many different axes of skill, development and facility with language. We have worked with many, many different communities including adults with disabilities, children, immigrant communities and folks living in inpatient psychiatric institutions to name just a few. With every community, playback has been able to transcend and break down barriers within and without. We understand that every communities’ needs are specific and that’s why we work so closely with our client’s to create the most impactful “container” for performance by adapting our language and approach to suit a communities’ specific needs. Get in touch with us to discuss the possibilities and benefits of bringing playback to your community.