Spread the Love: ths phne 2.0: the next generation

This week on Spread the Love, Lindsay and Craig talk about ths phne 2.0: the next generation, a vignette play about modern communication by Lindsay Price. Recorded live high above Times Square.

Transcript

Lindsay: Welcome to Spread the Love. We are still here overlooking Times Square, best view, and this week we are talking about ths phne 2.0, which is The Next Generation of This Phone Will Explode at the Tone. Still about communication, but with a focus on 21st century technology, how that helps or hinders, the ease of breaking up by text, how no one talks face-to-face anymore, and the death of punctuation. Craig, what do you love about ths phne 2.0?

Craig: Well, as with all of our vignette plays, the key here is flexibility. Now, flexibility with performers – it can have anywhere from five to 37 actors, and flexibility with actor ability levels. You could have a more experienced actor with a larger role to play or you can compartmentalize the roles into small manageable chunks for your less-experienced actors. Now, the thing that freaks me out about this script is that it’s modern. It’s about modern communication, texting, email, the Internet. And one day, and probably a lot sooner than any of us would like to think, ths phne 2.0 will just become a quaint little museum piece and Lindsay will have to update it again. Lindsay, what do you love about ths phne 2.0?

Lindsay: Well, that’s a cheerful thought.

Craig: [Laughs]

Lindsay: [Laughs] But what I love about it is that the original, This Phone Will Explode at the Tone, it was written 20 years ago, so this play gives me the opportunity to take an idea to the next step. How is communication changed? What’s stayed the same? That’s a great opportunity for a writer, and I’m really happy we’ve got it in our catalogue. Okay, that’s it for Spread the Love.