About a week ago most of the Xerxes' Atlas team met for a drinks and nibbles night in Auckland, which was something of a creative summit about the project. We invited a bunch of smart and talented people were able to pick their brains regarding our project to see what was working, what wasn't and try to find areas that we could expand into.
While not as many people showed up as we expected, that turned out to be a good thing because we got some really quality feedback and had a great discussion going that might not have been possible with a larger group.
One important distinction to come out of the meeting was the idea of the difference between product and process, and whether a finished theatrical production was the final product for us, or whether the actual PROCESS of developing a wikimusical is the product.
Producing and premiering a new musical is a pretty massive undertaking, and it would take a lot of funding to be able to do it properly. However, what makes this project interesting is not that it's a NEW musical, but that it's an OPEN SOURCE musical, or a WIKIMUSICAL. I think we came to realise that in order to complete the project we don't have to mount the production ourselves, but develop the tools and resources for other people to produce their own versions of it.
Jade's unique vision is for a musical that can easily be changed and adapted for each production, and where open collaboration is a central part of the creative process. In focusing just on that aspect, as well as reaching out to groups that might be interested in eventually producing XA, we'll be able to use our resources better and hopefully be a bit more efficient.
All of this came out of the meeting last week, and while it's changed the parameters of the project a bit, we're very excited about this evolution. So as far as we're concerned, the meeting was a big success and I'm sure you'll hear more about our new direction in the coming weeks.
