Andy is in good company for his premier video, appearing with Jonathan Frakes, who plays the character of Dylan Marks, and Michael Town, the winner of the Ultimate Online Audition Contest. Careful observers may even spot Theatrics co-founders Biff Van Cleve, Bob Gebert and myself in the video.

We look forward to more of Andy’s appearances and to following the adventures of Dean Forrester.

The make-believe town of Beckinfield is the setting for the Mad Libs-style show of the same name, which uses crowd-sourced amateur actors from all over the world who create the show’s story by posting videos.

Writers outline the plot and email a “town happenings” newsletter to actors each week. Each actor tells a small piece of the story in their video, adding their own flair. Related segments are linked together to create a kind of webisode that will be unique to every viewer depending on which videos they watch.

The inverse is also true. Beckinfielders may be small town hicks, but they do get occasionally get out and see the world. It can be a fun challenge to work your storyline around a trip you’re taking. And just like Beckinfield, it doesn’t have to be a real location. Headed to Florida? Find a beach and a palm tree and make everyone in Beckinfield jealous when you video in from Bali.

I am traveling to the Macworld|iWorld 2012 conference this week in San Francisco. I intend to make Beckinfield videos in airports, hotel rooms, San Fran streets, and the convention center. The fun part is I haven’t any idea where this may take my character yet. I have a basic premiss about Dylan Marks (Jonathan Frakes) asking me to help him with a trade show booth, but beyond that my plan is to have no plan at all. The audience wil find out what happens right along with Tag Z.

I used the two videos below to set up the premiss:

Dylan Marks hires me to score his local theater production. I’m right on it, really I am .

Dylan now wants me to handle the Macworld booth for his new buddy Harvey Kanz.

I will continue this series through the week. Tomorrow is a travel day, and Wednesday is a set-up-the-booth day. Stay tuned for more to come.

Theatrics.com, creators of Beckinfield,  has been invited to speak at the Film Event of this years Macworld|iWorld conference. In addition to the presentation, we will be shooting a special episode of Beckinfield with Mr. Frakes. That episode will now also include a special appearance by America’s Most Beloved Tech Journalist, Andy Ihnatko.

Mr Ihnatko, technology journalist for the Chicago Sun-Times, is well known in the Macintosh community from his frequent appearances on podcasts such as MacBreak Weekly, This Week in Tech and his latest creation The Ihnatko Almanac.

In the increasingly special episode of Beckinfield, Mr. Ihnatko will play the part of Dr. David Forrester, Dean of Beckinfield State College. The Fr. Forester is introducing Dylan Marks (played by Jonathan Frakes) at a press conference being held on his campus. Attendees at Macworld will watch as the main stage is transformed into  a college presentation room, and even be involved in shooting the episode by playing the parts of residents of the town of Beckinfield.

It is a real thrill to be working with both Mr. Frakes and Mr. Ihnatko on the project.

The presentation will start with Bob Gebert and myself talking about all things Beckinfield; how the project began, the technology behind it, and how Jonathan Frakes became involved in the show. Next, Mr. Frakes will take the stage to announce the finalists and grand prize winner of the Ultimate Online Audition Contest.

For the big finish we will shoot a special episode of Beckinfield live in front of the Macworld audience, actually including the audience in the episode.

The presentation theater will be transformed into the main hall of Beckinfield State University. In the story, legendary stage director Dylan Marks (Mr. Frakes’s character) is holding an open press conference on the campus to announce the cast of his next production, The Legends of Beckinfield. The Macworld audience will play the part of Beckinfielders attending the press conference.

The audience will also interact with the story as they are directed to react to the speech in various ways. In addition, they are all encouraged to shoot the event on their cell phones (most likely iPhones), create a character in Beckinfield, and upload the video to Theatrics.com to tell their side of the story.

If you are in San Francisco next week, come to Macworld and be part of the fun.

Tools enable change in technology and society. If Apple does announce a super-easy to use digital text book creation tool – a “Garage Band for text books” – we can thank (among many others including Mr. Jobs) Roger Rosner (shown above), Apple’s vice president for productivity applications and one of the lead creatives on the iWork software team.

All will be revealed on Thursday.

My business partners and I will travel with Jonathan to San Francisco next week to discuss Beckinfield at Macworld|iWorld conference. In addition to awarding the $10,000 prize for the Ultimate Online Audition Contest, we will be shooting Jonathan’s final episode in front of a live audience. Join us at Macworld if you would like to be part of the shoot.

You can also become part of Beckinfield by signing up for free at theatrics.com. Join the cast of Beckinfield (just like I did) and get involved in the story.

You can also listen to the podcast in iTunes.

In the interview we discuss all things Theatrics, Beckinfield and Mass Participation TV and touch on a variety of subjects: the origins of the project and company, our business partner Biff Van Cleve, the amazing staff behind the project, our upcoming presentation at Macworld, Scott David, Jonathan Frakes, and the never-ending Mac/PC debate.

The whole podcast is jam packed with interesting Sci Fi discussion; a George Takei viral video, Chase Masterson, Wil Wheaton’s opinions on William Shatner  and much more. If you’re in a hurry however you can find Bob and I around the 29 minute mark.

Our amazing video editor Jesse Garson is working on a customized video loop for the display screen, while I work on the graphics for a flyer. The photo above is a glimpse at my messy desk with some flyer work in progress.

Planning on attending? Be sure to let me know. Send me a tweet at @tracyevans.