Film Theory: This is Her FINAL Act! (Grey House)

Boo! Rare MatPat jump scare. Hello internet.  Welcome to Film Theory where today I'm going to tell you a ghost story.  So if you've ever watched even a fraction of my stuff that I do online,  you'll know that I was a theater kid. *Singing* A big theater kid. *More singing* Like I said, just pure, unadulterated  theater trash. And it goes all the way back to when I was in kindergarten.  For my first career day I actually remember that I dressed up in a suit  and tie. Here was everyone else, in th

eir cute little firefighter hats or their  doctors coats or whatever. And here I was, little mini MatPat, looking like the  world's teeniest, tiniest accountant. When adults asked me what I was dressed  as, I would say "I'm an actor" because apparently I thought actors wore the  fanciest, most nicest clothing out there. How wrong I was. As most of you know at this point, I went to college for a  combination of theater and neuroscience, and while I was there, I tried to do  as many shows as human

ly possible. I played every role from a neurotic manservant to  a neurotic court jester to a neurotic Halloween monster. In other words, I had range. That's  what they would call it in the business. But there was this one semester where I don't  know, just everything that was being produced looked boring. The musical was one I'd done  before, and the theater department show was what theater department shows always are  at colleges: something esoteric and weird. I am commenting on this couch. I a

m commenting on the teeny cubby in this room.  This is what my character would choose. Also, can I just say I love the full 360 tour that  you're getting of the GTLive studio right now? Anyway, I loved all of this stuff. Like I  said, pure theater trash. And after all, if I was going to be making a career  in theater, this is my job, right? So I couldn't not be doing a show for a couple  of months. So I did what was probably the unthinkable: I crossed enemy lines. I went  to audition at the riva

l school. Can we fire up like a dramatic chipmunk? Or what's, what's a  good, relevant version of dramatic chipmunk these days? It's not betrayal, but there's, like, this  one bit from Zoolander where... he turns around and then Owen Wilson is, like, looking all  fabulous and it's like, who is she? Can I just say this? I love that. I ask for a more  relevant example than the dramatic chipmunk. And the response that I got back was Zoolander.  You know, that classic Ben Stiller movie that predates

all of this? Honestly, no one had ever  done that sort of thing before because I guess no one had ever really thought about it like, Oh,  you could audition at the rival school in the way. Well, I did. And I don't know if I can truly  impress upon you how big of a thing this was, because I went to Duke and it has  like one of the all time most intense rivalries against the neighboring  school... United Church of Christ. Not the United Church of Christ, the  University of North Carolina or UNC f

or short. And let me tell you, I pulled out  all the stops for this audition. In general, my auditions tended to be unique  *singing* For this one in particular, I wanted to make a big impression to the  other school. So I went in and I did a dramatic monologue of "Bet on It" from  High School Musical 2. In case you've repressed your memories over that Disney  original production, here's the refresher: *singing* "to see yourself  and not recognize your face. Out on my own..." Ah just look at tha

t Disney Channel original movie  level water reflection right there. And you heard me right. I didn't sing the song. I said it  as a monologue, not singing. The struggles of being Troy Bolton forced onto a golf course.  Here, let me see if I can pull up a moment here. Everybody's always talking at me.  Everybody's trying to get in my head. I've got to listen to my own heart talking.  I've got to listen to myself instead. Bet on it. Bet on it. Bet on it. Bet on me. Long story  short, I clearly go

t the part. The show, oh, was this crazy show called Urinetown Town? Which  if you haven't heard of it, I'm not surprised. It's not super popular with a name like Urinetown  town. It's actually a joke that they write into the musical. But it's about this world where you  have to pay to pee because they've run out of water. You know? Theater shows gonna theater. You  know what I'm saying? Anyway, it was while I was being a turncoat at UNC that I met this girl  named Haley, who is a UNC alum who,

inspired by my galaxy-brained maneuvering here, actually  crossed back over to my school, Duke to audition. And unlike me, Haley was actually good, like  legitimately very good. Like good enough to perform in front of the entirety of a packed  a Yankees baseball stadium. Roll the clip. *Singing God Bless America* Legit, right? Just casually  dropping the high notes in front of 46,000 sports fans. Sure.  Way to show off there, honey. Anyway, Haley and I bonded over the  fact that we were the defe

ctors, the ones that were willing to cross enemy  lines, as it were. We were casual friends all throughout the rest of college. We graduate, life  happens. Everyone moves on. You know how it goes. I become that big nerd guy over on YouTube. That  part you're probably a bit more familiar with. But then, out of nowhere, at the top of this  year, I see a familiar name pop up in my inbox. It's Haley. Dear Matt. Hello there. It's been  too long. I am now the mother of a six year old. Time happens fas

t. And my stepson, who is  a budding video game composer, he's amazing. And his favorite show to watch online, much to my  surprise, an old familiar voice from college, you. Pretty cool. We watch you every week. I don't  always understand it all. You and me both. But you've made a huge difference in his life. Thank  you. I'm saying all of this not to humblebrag, about like, woah, look at how important I was  to her son's childhood, but rather for the context of what comes next. So this is comple

tely  random, but I'm producing shows on Broadway now. You know, just casual drop. I'm just a big time  Broadway producer, whatever. And the latest project to come across my desk is Grey House, a  psychological thriller slash horror play coming to Broadway this May. And I thought of you and Steph  immediately for this. After years of watching you, I just feel like this would be such a fit  because it combines horror, mystery and theater, and it would be introducing a brand new  genre to Broadway

, which it's so craving. Let me know if you'd like to get on the phone,  blah, blah, blah, etc. etc. It's definitely a different email than I was expecting there,  but long story short, we said yes to meeting with Haley and honestly, that's how we learned  about what the show was, which is really cool. A couple gets into a car crash during a blizzard  up in the mountains and winds up trapped in this mysterious cabin inhabited by a group of strange  girls who, get this, may or may not be dead. Mm

hmm. A lot of alarm bells  ringing, a lot of theorist checkpoints there. There's  this strange glowing that's coming from the basement. There are pentagrams carved into the floor. There are monsters  literally crawling out of the walls and throughout the whole thing you have  hidden messages sprinkled throughout, hidden in stuff like Morse code and sign  language. I mean, put your jazz hands away, ladies and gentlemen. Hamilton, this  is not. And the whole thing Anna Caruso from Beetlejuice, Ta

tiana Maslany from She-Hulk,  and Millicent Simmonds from a Quiet Place. And the whole thing is being directed by  the director who did Wicked. Like, it is a stacked creative team. But let's be honest, none of that mattered;  they had me the second they said dead kids. So we said yes to investing in Grey House.  Now, normally what that would mean is that you just write a check. That's all it is.  You literally are just helping to support the arts with a bunch of other people  because creating th

eater in New York is expensive. But hey, if the show goes  well, you get some of that money back. Awesome. But surprising literally no  one, Steph and I weren't just content to leave it alone. You guys know that  we are type-A personalities. Well, I'd go so far as to say we are type A+  personalities, because if we're doing a thing, then we are doing it, doing it. So,  Steph and I are all like, hey, you know, we have 12 plus years of experience solving  spooky mysteries and horror things online.

I think there's a little bit more that  we could do to help the production. Since this is a horror and mystery show, maybe, I  don't know, have you thought about doing some dances over on TikTok or maybe an influencer  night? How about an ARG? Let me sit you down and talk to you about how Jimmy Neutron  crosses over into the GrubHub universe. They were a bit confused, and so we met  more and more of the marketing team and the creative teams that were putting thi show  on. And we had some calls

that were full of some of the biggest names in the theater world.  And let me tell you, at first those calls were I mean, I gotta be frank...  they were uncomfortable. Let me explain why. You see, we have, like I  said, been doing this for 12 years. We know this world. If I tell the editors to do this  right, you know exactly what this means. You know what we're referencing.  Or something even more obscure: if we do this. Or most obscure of all: this. We all are chronically online. So we  know "

da wey" and we also know why we probably shouldn't be talking about "da wey"  anymore. But to the outside theater world, oh boy, this whole thing? This is a big old black  box. Actually, it is worse than a black box. This right here, this digital video land. it is  the home of Broadway's most dreaded two words: slime tutorials. And we're not talking about  literal slime tutorials where we're making things for kids. No, my friends, theater has to be  really restrictive when it comes to filming sh

ows because of all the copyrights and  union rules and performances involved. Each show is allowed to just be filmed  once and only once for archival purposes. That copy is then stored in one very specific  library in a corner of New York. But don't think that you can just roll in and start watching  the original cast of Beetlejuice on repeat. No, you absolutely can't. You can only watch that  tape recording one time in your entire life and only if you can prove  they have a research-based reaso

n to watch it in the first place. So in a world where we are literally dripping  in an excess of content, let's just say that theater has itself a bit of an accessibility  problem. And as you see with any business, a problem of accessibility ultimately gives  rise to piracy or in this case, slime tutorials, the secret coded word for any bootlegged video  recording of a Broadway show. In a world where people want to see theater but just can't because  of all the restrictive nature around it or th

e high price point, slime tutorials have basically  stepped in here on YouTube to fill in the gap. Most of them are really terrible quality. They  are definitely illegal, but if you really want to see a show and you just can't afford  to or you can't make it to the theater while it's performing, well, that's what  a lot of people have turned to. And to the people in the theater world who don't  understand our corner of the Internet, that right there, that is what digital video is.  And so here w

e are starting to roll into producer meetings, me and Steph, Mr. and Mrs. Internet  video asking, "Hey guys, have you ever thought about opening your doors and considering letting  theater influencers film bits of the rehearsals or maybe get shots of the set being constructed? Bring them along for the journey of the show?" It got awkward fast. To them that was just  letting the slime flow forth. And it didn't help either that theater is literally one of the  oldest art forms in the world. And Br

oadway, it is like the most entrenched of institutions  that involve thousands of people to put on these products. But the coolest thing about the  process here was that, at the end of the day, even though they were nervous and they were  definitely uncertain about some of the stuff that we were talking about, they said yes. At  least they kept an open mind to learning more. They wanted to be educated. And bit by  bit, we watched as the walls began to erode between these two worlds. There  start

ing to be more conversation. We started to have more of the same language.  Yes to a YouTube strategy. Yes to doing weird stunts like having creepy demon  girls wandering around Times Square lurking in the backgrounds of people's tourist  photos to help promote this thing virally. Yes to an influencer night. Can you  believe that? This was one of the first shows on Broadway, if not the first show to  invite online creators to a preview event? Film studios have been doing that for a  long time at

this point; but, theater, this was like mind blowing to them. And  let me tell you: the mood was electric. People there were so excited to be a part  of this launch event. I finally got the chance to meet with Thomas Sanders, who  I've been wanting to meet for years. But we're always just like ships passing  in the night. As well as Ranboo, who, you know, we cover a fair bit  across the channels. There was also Gamer from Mars, Wait in the Wings, Swell  Entertainment. All people that I love to

watch. "I was sent an email saying that I was  invited to Great House on Broadway May 10th, and I immediately was like, What?  So I know what you're thinking, Amanda. Why you? I don't know. I still don't  know." I do, Amanda. It was us. It was us and the creative team being fans of your work  and wanting you to be a part of this thing. And now it's been done. Right? Creators  and Broadway have finally crossed over and, hopefully, now that it's been done, once it's  easier to happen again and aga

in and again. And we're already starting to see that happen.  A week after we did that influencer night, the main creative team asked Steph and I if  it was a good idea for them to start their own subreddit so people could discuss the lore  of the show and solve it together online. And we're like, yes, absolutely that's a  great idea. Also, you used the word subreddit, right! A week ago that wouldn't have  been the case. They were like, "hey, do you think it would be a good idea if we  started t

o give away free tickets? Would people like that?" And we're like, duh! Of course! Who wouldn't want that sort of thing, guys. It's not rocket science. You know, when I  started doing theories ten, twelve years ago - ancient, I'm literally dust - I was living in  New York, right? I was on those streets. I was pounding the pavement in the theater district.  The show opened, what, like two or three blocks away from where I would wake up every morning  and get there at 4 a.m. to stand in line for t

hem to finally open the door at 6 a.m. so I  could wait all day to try to get an audition that never happened. This was a time  in my life where splitting a Chipotle burrito was the big meal of the week  because it was what Steph and I could afford based off of the budget that  we had at the time. And now here we are trying to help shape this industry  that was so pivotal to my early life. We're trying to update it. We're trying to  make it exciting and alive for a brand new generation of artist

s and fans. And that's it's  kind of unreal. I let you guys know over on Game Theory that I was going to be there for the  opening week of the show. And because this is a show with mysterious lore that you just want  to discuss with your friends in order to solve, we even did a talkback with all you theorists in  the audience. And while I've done just so many, too many to count when it comes to talkbacks  and presentations and on stage performances and whatever, this one was special. I mean,  th

is was on a Broadway stage. I mean, it's not an exaggeration to say  like this was literally kindergarten MatPat's dream come true. Look, there it is: my bio in a Broadway  program. And I'm going to flash it up on screen real quick for you to read.  There's an ARG in there. We're like, well, if we're in a Broadway theater, like might as  well throw in an ARG mystery for you to solve. That alone would have made it enough. Like, wow, this is incredible. I get to stand on a Broadway stage and talk.

Like  that was awesome. But then you guys showed up. And let me say that the theater was packed. And  the conversations that we had about the show, it was it was incredible. You guys are amazing. Your theories about the show were wonderful. We even got to throw in a Five Nights at Freddy's  reference. It's the best jump scare ever. Eat your heart out, Five Nights at Freddy's.  Five Nights at Freddy's on Broadway. Never thought that crossover was going to happen,  but that is now on the 2023 bin

go card. If you want to see actually the full  Talkback that we did, it is here on YouTube. I'll link to it and all the usual places.  The show wasn't done when the theater closed. As we left there were just so many  of you out on the street, a group of people so big that without exaggeration, they had to  shut the street down in front of the theater. I mean, that right there, that was  incredible. We didn't get to actually go to the afterparty celebrating the show  until hours after everyone el

se was there because we were trying to spend as much  time as possible talking to you guys. I was told by one of the producers on the  show that this is the sort of thing that doesn't tend to happen on Broadway. But  you guys, you made it happen. The reason I'm telling the story now is because it's  time for the production to wrap up. We're revving up for the final performances.  We're getting ready to close the doors. So now felt like the perfect time to  actually just tell you this story, one

that has just been a tremendous personal  achievement for me and a testament to everything that we as a collective theorist community  have been able to do together. So if you do want to be a part of that history and  see how the show comes together before all record of it gets relegated to a random New  York library in the corner, grab a ticket now, my friends. Link is in the description.  In fact, if you use the code GHTHEORIST, you can save ten bucks on your tickets. Not only  is the show awe

some, it's mysterious, it's scary, it's thought provoking, but also it takes place  in a haunted theater. Nothing to see there, just a ghost. Oh, it's a pipe.. And while I could  certainly just end the video right here now, hey, that's a theory of film theory. But it  wasn't. Bah bah bah. I do want to leave you with one last thing. You see this show, also an  incredible showcase for both hearing and non- hearing actors using sign language all throughout  the presentation. And through this proces

s, I was actually fortunate enough to speak to the director  of artistic sign language, Andrew Merrill, who spoke to us about the evolution of sign  language and how it's used throughout this show. It's long, but it is a fascinating clip, which  is why I wanted to share it with you here right at the end. So enjoy that as I leave you  here. And as always, my friends remember, it's just a theory, a Film Theory. and scene.  You mentioned setting and taking into account setting. Do different setting

s come with  different considerations when teaching things around sign language or creating the language  of the world that you're putting up on stage? Yeah, absolutely. So Grey House is set in the '70s. We signed differently  in the '70s than we do now. So we have to figure out exactly how to represent  that way we signed in the '70s in this show. So we have a deaf character in the  show and we have some ASL in the show; but, that's just one part of the story. It's not the feature part of the s

tory. It's just  that one of the characters happens to be deaf in this world. We don't want the sign language to  essentially pull focus on the story. It's just that we have a deaf character in the story. Could  you give us an example of something that would be different today than it was in the '70s,  just so we could get a visual cue of that? Sure, yes. So ASL, we don't have so much  documentation of the actual language because there's no written form of ASL, whereas with  English we can see h

ow it's changed from Shakespearean times up until modern times.  But we didn't have the technology in the '60s and '70s to fully document our language  and kind of codify it for the masses. But I will give you a simple example. So  in the '70s we used to sign in English word order rather than in our American Sign Language  grammar. Let's take the example, the sentence. "who are you?" Today we would sign it like  this, "who are you?" In the '70s we would sign "Who. Are. You? So these are little n

uances. They might not seem like a lot to you, but  definitely the deaf audience that comes to see our show will be able to appreciate  and take in those nuances. Are there any techniques that you use to help the actors  learn sign sign language faste? Or how does that teaching process develop? We usually  have ASL sessions built into the rehearsal. I'll talk with the actor about their  character or what they think works for their character or why are you signing in  that moment or why are you n

ot signing in that moment? And then I get into the text and  start teaching them the translations. I record myself with those translations and send  it to them so they can work on their own. I have to say that this cast has been  phenomenal with learning sign language. They're all such quick studies; they  learn so much in such a short amount of time. We have such an amazing  cast, so grateful for all of them.