Imagine going on a blind date onstage in front of hundreds of strangers. The audience provides you topics, interjects, or perhaps even pitches a crowd member as the more ideal date.
That’s the premise of Updating, a New York-based show created by Brandon Berman and Harrison Forman as an alternative to swiping right. Before the COVID-19 crisis, the hosts pre-interviewed candidates and set up dates at venues in Brooklyn and Midtown. The daters wore blindfolds first, revealing their faces to each other only after a halftime break. Oftentimes the show sparked a love connection. There was a six-show streak of couples kissing at the end of the date and making plans for a second (private) one. After the show, audience members were often inspired to ask each other out, as…