A new online community dedicated to theater has been revealed. Based on the idea that “theater ignites from the spark of collaboration and connection,” Spectra.theater is a multi-facted tool that will offer not just information, but connection between theater artists across all levels of the art form.
Spectra currently offers a library of current, upcoming and past productions ranging from Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional, community, educational (collegiate, high school) and other amateur. Information therein includes principal casting, select creative team members and production dates, as well as licensing information for select works.
Additionally, Spectra provides an interactive project page where users, who can create an account for free, can aggregate discrete theater ideas, images, show information and more, for a potential project; “anything that helps your vision come to life,” said co-founder Alanna Saunders in an exploratory video on the site.
Spectra is the brainchild of a family of artists, including siblings Alanna Saunders (an original company member of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”), Claire Saunders (who appeared in the 2023 revival of “Sweeney Todd”), Heath Saunders (an alum of “Company”) and Trent Saunders (who will next take the stage in the upcoming “Dead Outlaw”). Blake Saunders, an additional sibling who works as a high school music teacher and music director, serves as advisor. The team is led by the siblings’ parent, Kim Saunders, who is CEO of Spectra Media Collective, the parent company of Spectra.
“With loneliness and isolation presenting profound threats to our health and well-being, theater is more important than ever,” Kim Saunders said in a statement. “Theater, like all live entertainment events, offers social connection, sensory enrichment and improved mental health — benefits that directly reduce those threats through shared, in-person experiences. But these benefits are only accessible via attention, which digital platforms zealously hoard. Spectra is a digital playground that supports seamlessly integrated theater for audiences and artists, putting live performance as our focus, and enabling theater to compete more effectively in the attention economy.”
The Saunders family promises the platform will continue to grow. “We are excited to move toward our release of the first mobile Spectra.Theater experience, offering a compelling new approach to managing attention during a live event, allowing early adopter creative teams to integrate in-person and digital audience experiences to dramatically improve the impact of every performance,” added Kim Saunders.
