Most of us have probably heard about Theater Geeks, those over-the-top folks who love all things theater and, often, musical theater-related. When you reverse the order of those two words, they take on a completely different meaning.
The Geek Theater Kickstarter campaign aims to showcase science fiction and fantasy plays that can then be made accessible to theater groups, schools, actors/actresses, critics, and science fiction and fantasy fans via the Geek Theater anthology.
According to their Kickstarter page, “Geek Theater includes an assortment of stage plays, which range from full-length to monologues. Our goal is to showcase the exciting plays being written for the theater by well-known science fiction and fantasy authors and playwrights.”
According to Erin Underwood of Underwords Press, the inspiration for Geek Theater happened, “while I was working on programming for Boskone. We were looking at doing a Saturday night play that had strong science fiction or fantasy elements. Through a series of events, I realized that while science fiction theater is actively being produced, there aren’t any published anthologies that feature science fiction and fantasy stage plays. I chewed on the idea of an anthology of SF/F stage plays for a while and eventually got in touch with Jen Gunnels, the theater critic for The New York Review of Science Fiction. Once we began talking, it was pretty obvious that this ‘theater’ gap in SF/F publishing needed to be filled. From there, the idea and inspiration for Geek Theater really took shape.”
If you’re looking for examples of science fiction and fantasy theater, Erin has some suggestions: “The first example that comes to mind is the new play ‘Thunderbird at the Next World Theatre’ by Andrea Hairston. We’re including her play in Geek Theater and she’s doing a live staged reading of it in New York on May 13th at the Soho Gallery for Digital Art as well as at Readercon in July. I think you can also look at pretty much anything Jeanne Beckwith does and you’ll find an excellent play that really brings out the best of SF theater. I was also thrilled to hear about Sci-Fest, Los Angeles’s first annual festival for science fiction theater, which takes place this May. Clearly, there is a science fiction theater renaissance of sorts that is occurring.”
Backer rewards include digital and print copies of the Geek Theater anthology, schwag, and appearing as donors in the book. The $500 level gets your name listed as a House Level Supporter in the book, five Geek Theater coffee cups, five t-shirts, five books, five bookmarks, and five eBooks. Think of it as a starter kit for your own personal theater group.
