Theatre veteran Adrian Pang, 54, has been fretting over how to engage audiences online. It has been a tough time for arts groups in Singapore, and Pangdemonium, the theatre company he started with his wife 10 years ago, is no exception.
With performance halls closed, the group - known for its productions of popular Broadway shows - has also struggled to get permission to play them to audiences at home.
"The rights-holders, by and large, do not allow us to even have any archival footage, let alone share it or stream it with anyone," says Pang.
While Pangdemonium was allowed to stream four old shows, which were presented for a limited time during the circuit breaker, most of its efforts hit a brick wall.
But the answer finally came in the form of Waiting For The Host, a Zoom-inspired play that New York-based Marc Palmieri wrote for an online audience.
Impressed by the script, Pang approached Palmieri's agent, who gave the green light. The show, about a crew of misfits who gather online to rehearse a Passion Play, will be adapted to a Singapore context and streamed on Sistic Live.
Waiting For The Host, which is being filmed in actors' homes and directed remotely by Tracie Pang, premieres on Oct 15. Like many recent digital shows, it is an experiment.
The idea, Pang explains, is to recreate the experience of going to the theatre. There will be only up to 350 tickets a show, each priced at $45, and audiences have to tune in at a specific time. As a result, audiences - even in the age of Zoom fatigue - have to be committed.
"Each stream of the play will be at a specific time each night. They will be able to log in, as if going to the theatre foyer on time, every night, at 8.30pm. At 9 o'clock sharp, the curtain will go up virtually and the play will start," he says.
While $45 a ticket might seem a bit steep, Pang points out that people often watch online shows in pairs or in a group.
He expects the cost of the production to amount to a six-figure sum and hopes audiences understand that they need to pay a reasonable price for tickets.