Consumption of art a theme in Spear’s ‘LIVE, RECORDED’

Nick Spear’s self-written, self-performed show, “LIVE, RECORDED,” puts the spotlight on the process of producing and consuming art and the challenges that arise throughout.  

In “LIVE, RECORDED,” the character Hunter, played by Spear, is trying to record a live album in real time in front of an audience; the audience.  

Spear’s background in both music and theatre runs deep. He said he was “kicking the idea for the show around for years” before writing.  

“So I wrote this about the current state of the arts. It’s about how frivolously we consume music and art through technology,” Spear said.  

Spear pointed out that there is a “subscription economy” now.  

“We’ve moved from purchasing music to subscribing and streaming. Every song is everywhere for free now. You used to be able to purchase an album, now you subscribe – how does that affect its worth?”  

The show is also about “finding your true voice as an artist,” he said. “It’s about being replaced by machines. And all of that together – it’s something that’s in between a concert, storytelling, a play and a TED talk.” 

“LIVE, RECORDED,” will have performances this weekend through Alpine Theatre Project, but it’s not the show’s first appearance.  

Since its first production with Whitefish Theatre Company about seven years ago, technology has evolved further, and Spear has workshopped the script.  

“It’s been a circuitous route, but the time [gap] has resulted in important rewrites,” Spear said. “It couldn’t be more current with where we’re at in society, not just with art but with technology, AI and automation. It’s crystallized.” 

Spear said he submitted the show to the New York Musical Festival in 2020. The show made it through the first round of the competition before the festival went out of business. And then the Covid pandemic happened, Spear said.  

Since then, the world’s current climate has made the piece even more relevant and resonant, Spear said. 

With edits, some songs are now more pointed toward what the piece is about, and the characters are more developed. 

There are, in fact, two characters – the musician Hunter, and an ex-girlfriend manning the recording studio. Maneuvering a past with a former romantic partner adds flair to the show as Hunter grapples with songwriting becoming obsolete.  

Performances are Friday, April 4 and Saturday April 5 at 7 p.m. at the Alpine Theatre Project’s studio in the Mountain Mall in Whitefish.