As many of you know, the Ithaqa Comic Finger Lakes Book Tour was canceled due to CoVid-19, which has been emotionally and financially very devastating to me these past few weeks. I talked with you about how I was working on building out a digital book tour, but that I didn't entirely know what that would look like, especially because I'm in the middle of a Kickstarter at the moment (please share the link as far and wide as you possibly can, we REALLY need your help).
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/494808041/ithaqa-comic-issues-2-and-3?ref=c84han
I was talking with my editor, Lisa, and she has hatched a brilliant idea that I could not be more excited to tell you about. We will be putting on a digital, live-stream, theatrical reading of Ithaqa Issue 2. We are in the process of hiring actors, building sets, and developing costumes. There will be more info to come, but here is a basic look at the press release Lisa and I have started to put together:
Live theater meets horror comics meets digital streaming the week of March 29th, when the creators of Ithaqa, a new horror comic, stage a theatrical reading of their 1920's "Lovecraftian" adventure!
Michael Watson and Lisa VillaMil found their creative endeavors in art and theater in danger due to the global Coronavirus crisis. As freelancers in the arts, they watched as their friends and co-workers lost contracts, book tours, and theater events they had spent months or even years building towards. With no relief in sight, and no obvious way forward for the live arts, Michael and Lisa envisioned a way to join the world of comic books with the world of live theater, but in a safe, digital, format.
They came up with the idea to put on a 5 night theatrical run of Michael Watson's 1920's', comic Ithaqa, and live-stream it to a world deprived of live theater, and in many cases, forced to remain indoors. The production will be complete with costumes, sound effects, and music, and will be accessible to everyone in the world for FREE via a Youtube link and a Twitch Stream.
Michael and Lisa will bring all of their actors into a Zoom video conference call, and then stream the whole performance live to Youtube and Twitch, where digital audience members will be able to like, comment, and tip the production.
The whole production process will be completely transparent so that other thespians looking to replicate the format will have the tools to keep their productions alive in an era of unprecedented social distancing.
The most important thing you can do right now, aside from backing and SHARING the Kickstarter link, is to like our FB Page:
https://www.facebook.com/IthaqaComic/
That is where you will be able to find the most timely information on this crazy new experiment we are embarking on. The extent to which you think the steemit community can be involved in this new digital frontier of comic book live streaming theater, let me know in the comments.
Thanks for everything steemit fam, keep steeming!