The app must go on

If you've ever wanted to direct two Toronto theatre superstars around a stage, you'll be glad to know there will.

Avital Zemer

If you’ve ever wanted to direct two Toronto theatre superstars around a stage, you’ll be glad to know there will soon be an app for that.

Morro & Jasp, the two “clown sisters” played by Amy Lee and Heather Marie Annis, gave me a beta peek at their upcoming mobile app: a cartoon game where you choose dialogue options to help their characters create a show together.

The game is like those Choose Your Own Adventure books where different choices turn the story down different paths. The game offers 120 endings for the flighty Morro and pragmatic Jasp.

The game is as whimsical as the IRL clown artists, who are regulars at Fringe festivals across the country. Their schedule is often tied to summer’s bustling theatre season, but Lee and Annis wanted to stay connected to their fans outside their regular show runs.

They’re among several Toronto artists who are building mobile apps to better remain top of mind for fans between shows.

“We thought a digital game would be a fun way for people to continue to play with Morro & Jasp,” says Lee. “And with this app, they get to help make up what the play is.”

They had long wanted to build a Morro & Jasp video game, and Lee says she’s always been attracted to playful games.

“I loved Super Mario Bros. and that whole universe and how Mario and Luigi were brothers.” She pauses. “Oh, wait. I just realized the parallel there, of the Mario Bros and how Morro and Jasp are sisters. Wow!”

Quirky coincidences aside, Lee and Annis spent hours recording the dialogue bits for the app, 29,000 words, to be exact.

The artwork, dialogue editing and app design took months to finalize, but Lee says the launch date is soon approaching. She hopes it will go live in June before Morro & Jasp premiere their new show, Stupefaction, at Crow’s Theatre.

Morro & Jasp are used to thinking outside the theatre box: in 2013, they wrote a cookbook, published by Tightrope Books, featuring more than 120 recipes. To Lee, it made sense to go year-round with initiatives Morro & Jasp could launch when the theatre season is quiet.

Spoken word poets are looking beyond their gigs and social media strategies to better reach fans, too. Dwayne Morgan, who regularly produces and performs at shows at the St. Lawrence Centre and tours extensively, released his new self-titled app in January. Unlike Lee and Annis’s, this app is focused on the poet, his work and his upcoming shows.

It’s reminiscent of the Louis CK app the comedian released earlier this year. And Rush heads might remember the $4 app listing tour schedules, songs, news and Rush-inspired phone wallpaper. Sadly, that one hasn’t been updated since 2015.

Morgan believes it’s important for artists with sizable fan bases to find simple ways to curate in one hub everything they do. On Morgan’s app you can find his upcoming shows, poems from his YouTube channel, blog posts, photo galleries, a fan wall and social media feeds.

He doesn’t expect users to visit every day.

“You have to be creative,” says Morgan. “So for an upcoming show, I might offer an early-early bird discount exclusively for app users, then an early-bird price for everyone else later on.”

In late January, Morgan hosted his annual Soul Slam for R&B artists at the Lula Lounge. The competition featured four judges from the audience and a fifth “judge” via the app’s users, who were posting their scores in real time. An in-app algorithm averaged the users’ scores for each performer.

“Why not incorporate new tech in something that already exists, like a popular competition or slam?” says Morgan.

Any artist can learn from Annis, Lee and Morgan how to get savvier about the business side of show business.

stage@nowtoronto.com | @SilverbergDave