Long before BANNED, Absurd Hero, Broadside, and the productions that followed, there was WYSIWYG the Musical, an early original musical theatre project that helped shape much of the creative work we do today. Now, that work is finding a new home and a new life at
Viewmark®. WYSIWYG began as an experiment in bringing original music, characters, technology, and contemporary storytelling together onstage. Over the years, it grew through readings, performances, new collaborators, rewrites, recordings, photography, video, promotional campaigns, and eventually a trip to New York City. Along the way, it generated a remarkable collection of creative material documenting not only the musical itself, but the process of developing and producing an original show.
As Viewmark has evolved into a media production company with a growing focus on original musical theatre and the performing arts, it seemed only natural to bring that material into the Viewmark collection. It's more Than an Archive! We're gradually organizing and republishing WYSIWYG content through Viewmark; photos, video, music, artwork, promotional pieces, behind-the-scenes material, and other pieces of the show's history. But this isn't simply about preserving an old production. Looking back at WYSIWYG provides a fascinating record of how an idea changes once actors, musicians, designers, directors, audiences, and producers become part of it. Some ideas survived. Others disappeared. Characters changed. Songs evolved. Technology changed dramatically. And lessons learned during those early productions continue to influence the way we develop and produce new work today. In many ways, WYSIWYG became part of the foundation for what Viewmark is doing now.
Giving Creative Work New Stages
One of the ideas behind Viewmark's growing media collection is that creative work doesn't necessarily end when the curtain comes down. A production can continue through recordings, photographs, stories, licensing, educational material, digital media, and sometimes entirely new interpretations of the original work. Bringing WYSIWYG into Viewmark gives us an opportunity to preserve where we started while allowing that work to become part of where we're going. The technology may have changed. The productions have certainly grown. But the idea remains remarkably familiar: create the work, develop the work, and find new ways to take it into the world.
