Among New York City’s diverse independent exhibition community, the Spectacle Theater stands out as something unique. Located in an ex-bodega in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the theater has no concessions, no paid staff members, and no more than 35 seats. Its programming, mostly repertory in nature, can be best described as “eclectic,” tending tends towards cult classics, deep cuts, and overlooked obscurities. Now, that programming has shifted online: to Twitch.
A live streaming service that boasts an average 1.5 million viewers at any given moment, Twitch is mostly known as a platform to livestream—and watch livestreams of—videogame play. With COVID-19 migrating most forms of entertainment into the home, a few theaters have begun experimenting with Twitch as a livestreaming platform.