Synetic Theater

Since the term had been winding down to its end, and I was basically done with all my deliverables, last weekend my wife and I had a little treat: another theater night at Synetic. I had a post back in February about this theater and their Antony and Cleopatra play.

I know it may sound ridiculous, but I think of Synetic as of “Apple” in its latest stretch of innovation from IPod in 2001 to IPad- 2010. This outlandish comparison is influenced by the Apple, Inc. case we had to work in marketing course this summer term.

It’s really funny how MBA affects the way of thinking and the view of the world. In a sense you start to look at things from a very specific and somewhat narrow perspective. Yes, it’s true that your perspective actually broadens and becomes more systematic and synthetic in everything referring to business. You gradually become able to look at business in more integrated fashion: see it from different angles, whether it is statistical analysis or ethical implications. But at the same time, you start to apply the same methods of analysis to other things, seemingly unrelated. I would put it this way: MBA broadens your way of thinking about business, but narrows your veiw of the world. I don’t say it is inherently bad. But now it makes much more sense to me that business schools try to attract diverse application pool in many regards, including professional backgrounds, undegraduate majors, phylantropic endeavors, etc. MBA program will instill the systematic approach of business thinking in the students, but it is very crucial to have something besides that. It is a sort  of checks and balances in professional business education.

Back to Synetic.  Why I compared Synetic with Apple? Because every time I come to their plays, I wonder what else can they come up with to surprize their audience? Have not they already done a great job in their last play? Can you really add something new to it? Are they going to plateau this time and just give another great performance, like the one before?

But every time I come, it’s not ‘just another great performance’ – I am utterly bedazzled every time with their interpretation of the seemingly known texts. And this time with Othello they again were able to astonish me beyond my expectation. Just like Steve Jobs and Apple with its streak of innovation of the last decade  .

As one critic wrote about Synetic’s Othello, “I thought they had reached the pinnacle with their last outing, Antony and Cleopatra, but clearly there’s no end to the brilliance of this company when it applies its physical theater style to the Bard. Hyperbole? Head to the Kennedy Center’s Family Theater and judge for yourself.”

I fully undersign under those words. If you are around DC area, the play is going to be on till July 3, so there is time to catch the magic.

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