Prefers Bright Indirect Light

by Veronica Tjioe

The Inkwell Theater
Together LA Virtual Theatre Festival

Virtual Performance
Los Angeles, California
October 2020

“Four houseplants on a window sill contemplate their lives indoors, friendship, mortality, and if they’ll ever be watered again.”

A virtual performance of Veronica Tjioe’s play about the existential conversation of four houseplants which was performed as part of the Together LA Virtual Theatre Festival and streamed via Twitch. While directing a live theatrical production virtually poses many challenges, this production used these challenges to its advantage rather than fighting against them. The directorial choices brought the magic of a live show to a virtual stage. Captured remotely in each of the actors' individual homes, the performance utilized green screens and technology which allowed the actors to see themselves scaled down to a smaller size and placed “next to” each other on the image of a window ledge. Actors stood behind large bins painted to look like pots which gave the illusion that they were potted plants. The physical limitations these pots presented helped highlight the constriction of these characters, who are completely at the mercy of the person who decides if and when they are cared for.