BWW Blog: Exploring Other Mediums

The coronavirus has caused a grim reality for those wanting to go into live theatre. As a musical theatre major myself, we're taught to perform for a live audience of onlookers. But what happens if current social distancing impacts the audiences attending live theatre in the long term? The world will likely not look the same post pandemic. My fear, and the fear of many other theatre artists, is that this illness will significantly decrease the number of people attending theatre shows, therefore limiting our job outlook post graduation.

When the stay at home order was announced, the only thing I could think was "now what?" I still had classes to complete, but what would come of my summer, with live theatre opportunities being unattainable until at least September. I needed a summer project to keep the days from blurring together, specifically something I was passionate about that I could us my entertainment skills for. It came as a pleasant surprise to me when my friends and I used this quarantine time to make a dream project (a podcast about our favorite video game) a reality.

Let me backtrack a bit. I'm fortunate enough to be incredibly close with two of my friends from high school, Meryn and Madi. We've been best friends since middle school and nothing has really changed. We've kept in touch throughout college by playing a video game together called Danganronpa. Danganronpa is a Japanese game in the visual novel genre which is a combination between the classic murder mystery, and Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. We've spent three years of college dedicated to playing these games in tandem, and would often text about fan theories because, believe it or not, this game has a lot to unpack. The three of us were facetiming, talking about the third sequel to the game (which we're all currently playing), and Madi said something that got our attention.

"I can't believe there's not a podcast about Danganronpa," To which Meryn and I replied: "There isn't? That's stupid, there's so much to talk about it'd be perfect for a podcast!"

And so The Ultra Hope Girls: A Danganronpa Podcast was born. We worked night and day for three weeks before we launched our first episode. Meryn composed the songs, Madi made promotional memes, and I researched how best to promote online content. It's helped our mental health to have something to work on every day. Our first episode was released May 11, and we already have some special episodes in the works. June 8th we release our first interview with a voice actor from the game. Since a lot of actors have a slower stream of new opportunities, we've been able to reach out and get a couple of them to be featured guests on our podcasts in the coming weeks. In our first month of existence, we've received almost 600 views, and are gaining fast traction in the Danganronpa, gaming, and podcast community. I've boiled down our quick success to hard work in promotion of the podcast, outreach help from online influencers, and having our subject matter be about a niche topic with a loyal following. Not to mention we're very passionate about this particular topic, so I'm sure that's helped us the most.

With live theatre being put at a grinding halt for the foreseeable future, theatre majors like myself are trying to use their skills in any way they can. I have a friend teaching online yoga classes, a friend running virtual theatre camps, and multiple people starting Youtube channels. Now has proved to be the time for live theatre makers to see the virtual medium as a new opportunity. The illness may have stopped live performances, but it hasn't been able to extinguish the drive, perseverance, and, ultimately, hope that makes up a great theatre artist. Just because we're using these traits elsewhere doesn't mean they're gone for good.

If you want to check out the Ultra Hope Girls, look us up on Apple, Spotify, Google, and almost any other place podcasts are available.

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