David raises interesting issues well worthy of discussion. That said, here are some things that I think complicate the analysis and perhaps some of his conclusions. First, this was not a theater show and indeed Stav Hall is not a prototypical theater space. The design of the show and the space would never facilitate a situation where a large audience would be held completely captive. I think we knew that going into the performance. This event was more closely related to a happening, an incident, an intervention, or an unexpected disruption of normal activity. This piece was more like indoor street theater. I think we all knew that some would like it and some would be pissed off by it. (as exemplified by Stephen's earlier post). We were more like strange waiters bringing odd dishes to tables. I suspect that this was also an event unlike any other in the caf probably catching most people off guard.

As to scale - the number of shows relative to size of the space and the number of people in the space, I think that raises interesting things to ponder as well. I don't think we thought we would reach everyone at an intimate level. Is that even completely necessary? I think the spectacle operated at two levels -- a larger overview "sum of the parts" scale and an intimate detailed scale. Based on my ability to move around the entire caf space, I think everyone was aware of many of the elements - the sound, the light and the presence of pairs moving around presenting something in a lighted box. (that alone is interesting or at least curious to me). I think that many people were aware that there were shadow puppet shows in the boxes. And of course a smaller percentage (whether it was 20% who knows) of people saw in detail the entirety of a show.

Whether you can use applause or jeers as an indicator of the overall success or effectiveness of the performance, I'm not sure. Applause and jeers are much better indicators when an audience is in a space where they have had experience with what is being presented -- they have been trained or socialized to respond in set or codified ways. Theaters, concert halls, museums etc. Jeers, in fact, might be seen as positive in our case. When any art form is seen outside of its normally prescribed context people often don't know how to react. The perceived lack of applause could be more a function of an audience not knowing when to applaud, perhaps not knowing exactly when it was over. I have seen this numerous times in actual theater shows.

To me overt negative response is more a function of our high strung, often frantically on-the-move culture's inability to engage with disruption (or the other) rather than always reject it in a knee jerk emotional way. The truth is that the disruption to their eating was only about 13 minutes long. I have waited in restaurant lines, traffic jams, doctor's offices and so on for much longer periods of time without any provided distraction. And St. Olaf is supposedly a tight(er) community, one where you would expect some level of at least "the benefit of a doubt" type support for the creative activities of fellow students even if you don't "get it".

Well, we'll continue this tomorrow. Thanks to Stephen and David for getting discussion started.