They’re calling it “The Dress That Broke The Internet.”

I’m talking of course about that blue and black dress . . . or is it gold and white . . . wait, hold on, it’s blue and . . . nope, white.  Damn it!

You know exactly what I’m talking about.  It’s the dress that caused knock-down, drag-outs at the water cooler late last week because some people adamantly saw it black and blue and others saw it gold and white.

There are all sorts of super-sciency reasons why people see the dress as different colors, as written about in this New York Times article (and now can we pause for a moment to reflect on the fact that the New York Times covered this crazy story?).

But for me, the matter was quite simple.

People see things differently.  And that goes for cheap dresses on Tumblr, and it most certainly goes for art, and yep, theater.

Ever hated something that your friend just loved?  Ever laugh at a line of dialogue while everyone else sat stone faced?  Ever see someone crying at the end of a play and wonder if you saw the same show?

The truth is . . . you didn’t see the same show.  Everyone sees things differently, thanks to their own tastes, their own sensibilities, and their own personal experiences.

It’s imperative for you to remember this when you are developing your own shows, because the feedback you get is going to run the gamut of blue and black to white and gold and every color in between.

And look, when I’m creating a new piece, no one asks for more feedback than me (I’m the guy who does this for all his shows, remember?).  But while it’s important to weigh every opinion you receive, at the end of the day, you must create the show that you want to see.

For this simple reason and this alone . . .

If your show doesn’t work, you want it not to work based on what you wanted, not based on the opinion of other people who may see things differently.  Because the only thing worse than a flop is a flop that isn’t what you wanted it to be.

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