I want to underscore what Irve posted below. I was not surprised at the lack of applause, simply because knowing when to applause requires the sort of theatrical cues we were abandoning in the first place. If we wanted applause, we would have to have orchestrated it so you all finished at the same time, the lights went up, and you all bowed or some other such gesture.
I think how this performance was viewed/valued by the community has to come down to word of mouth and the slow trickle of unexpected/unsolicited feedback. Several students figured out that I was in on it, and asked "What is this? What is this class? This is really cool!" Granted, these were art and art history students. But audience reaction in the moment doesn't have to be the ultimate gauge of success.
And for some viewers, anything avant-garde, experimental, unusual or abstract is just going to piss them off. Is it really worth our time to worry about them?
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