By Chanel Sheridan
The question of why audiences archive and what their role is within a production is an incredibly large one, yet I wanted to use it as a way to guide this writing piece and discuss some commonalities between the Gatherings interviews in the ways audiences document productions.
Firstly, it is important to note that the style in which audiences archive is incredibly personal and oftentimes is a way for them to go back and remember which shows they attended, such as in the case with Barbara Moore and Vera Kadar (lines 460 and 66 respectively from their interviews). Yet at the same time, some audience members do not remember why they started archiving, such as Sandy Moser who speculates it might have been to remind her to talk to her daughter about the productions she saw (line 191). Many of the subjects do not archive or document in a physical style and instead recall productions from memory. While many of the subjects remembered specific details of the production, upon first glance it seems as though these archives are unreliable as a result of human errors and the limitations of human memory. Oftentimes things are forgotten such as Vera who didn’t realize she had attended the show before until looking in her archives (line 66). Additionally, Sandy’s only memory of a production is that she thought it was “fantastic” because that is what is written beside the entry in her archives (line 130).
However, I argue that the archives of audience members are not a way of accurately documenting the production itself but are necessary to provide a record of the lives that production touched. Janis cites that the audience’s role is to actively listen, which she recalls through the experience of a show being recapped and understanding that she was supposed to be paying much more attention than she had been (line 462). The role of audiences as witnesses is an idea that is also reflected in Vera’s interview where she explains how a show cannot exist in a vacuum (line 84), as well as in Sandy’s interview who says, “without me, there’s no play- there's no reason for their, no jobs for them, you need the audience” (line 358). From this common theme within the plays, audiences believe they are meant to act as a witness to the productions, to be there and experience it. When extended into their archiving, it can be understood as their way of proving the production existed and proving they experienced it.
Since audience archives seem to stem from personal insights and are a way of documenting their witnessing, these archives are also a way to document how a production affected the audience and what emotions arose in them. Every single subject spoke of their positive experiences and images that they remember, such as Sandy who speaks about a puppet of a little yellow bird with fondness (line 83) and Francie who mentions the “standout” scene where Lady Macbeth gathers a cloth into her hands that spans the stage (line 326). In addition to this, perhaps audience archives are a way for audience members to explore their own experiences. In a large communal setting such as a production, which is live and therefore is not the same every time, perhaps audience members feel the need to solidify that their thoughts and opinions matter. Through archiving they are fulfilling their perceived role as an audience member: to witness and engage with the production, which would not matter without them. Thus, audience archiving is a way to remember the way the individual audience member felt about that which is fleeting: the feeling they had in those specific moments because of the production.