Live Theater Adapts to Covid-Era With Innovative Performances | Barron's

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The entertainment industry has been hit particularly hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. The latest figures from the Brookings Institution show that half of the company’s jobs will be lost between April 2020 and July 2020

. Nevertheless, despite all the closed places, many things are still happening in the world of live theater. Although many people are struggling, theater producers are looking for innovative ways to overcome the difficulties. 

The new script created specifically for outdoor spaces has attracted many enthusiastic readers. in

of

This is an optimistic drama composed of two people, about a couple publicly assessing their relationship. It was recently produced by Majestic Repertory Theatre in Las Vegas and Mirrorbox Theatre in Iowa. The audience While watching by car, we turn to the local FM radio station to listen to the microphone actors.

Premiere

Just closing

. Customers brought their own camping chairs to watch the actors, and they were never less than 12 feet apart. This is a ghost story of a forest service created based on local legends and the 1910 fire (a performance in and around a specific fire tower in Missoula Fort) that can be transferred to other outdoor spaces. 

The Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, Florida will premiere soon

, A time-lapse solo show created and performed by Jeffrey Binder, held in Prague. The planned safety precautions include reducing seats, using mandatory masks, admission free of charge, digital game sheets, and disinfection of facilities before and after the performance and intermission. This was followed by a summer sales event at the Gulfshore Playhouse, where hundreds of customers participated in online discussions with professional artists, actors, and academics, as well as virtual training in dance, performance, and musical theaters. (The theater has produced one of my plays before.)

The Zoom craze has swept theaters across the country to please audiences and produce scripts. If there is a large theater company that has done something you like during a live performance, they are now likely to do something online. 

in New York,

The meeting to be held in front of the city council this week will create an open cultural program to grant outdoor permits to cultural institutions and artists. The council members said: “Due to Covid-19, our cultural organizations, entertainment venues and artists need a space for rehearsals and ticketing activities, and their spaces will also be closed.”

The proponent of the bill told me. "Culture is vital to New York City, and this plan is necessary to help the industry survive this pandemic."

This will bring culture into the public space, like

This program is currently only used for catering. According to the proposal, it will also instruct those organizations to clean up these spaces to provide services to the city. The passage of the bill is uncertain, but since last year it is particularly desirable

Calculations sponsored by the Mayor’s Office indicate that smaller venue theater industries (non-Broadway and non-Broadway) have produced

The annual economic output. Live theaters bring people around the world and provide traffic for many other businesses. 

Naturally, some theater manufacturers are not waiting for government action. A New York City named "

"Called himself a "rebellious performance in a secret outdoor location in New York City." Others have changed their faces, such as

The Henry Street Settlement, a social service organization with a history of 127 years, has close ties with its Lower East Side community. When the city entered a lockdown in March, many neighbors were in trouble. A lighting designer told me how to shut down all products, how to redeploy theater staff as necessary workers in the outpost food pantry, providing 22,000 meals a week throughout the crisis. Together with her staff, she moved 2,400 boxes of food into the theater in a fire brigade style for two and a half hours, which made her very satisfied. She said: "The theater people are workaholics."

Then there is the island, which is a new park currently under construction at Pier 55 under Chelsea Piers, with a 700-seat outdoor stage for theater, music and dance performances against the backdrop of the Hudson River. The venue was originally scheduled to open in the spring of 2021. It used to be an interesting destination, but now it feels like a much-needed beacon of hope.

But for every theater producer who found a source of creativity during this period, there are others who have not. Even the most productive people I have spoken to told me how difficult it is to create during the isolation pandemic.

Some people mentioned money harshly, but there are many ways of living on budget in the theater industry. What’s more frustrating are the stories that appear in amazing works that closed prematurely, or worse, never opened—all this time spent on the project should have its chance , And now it may never be available. 

A senior costume designer who has participated in 7 Broadway shows is confident that he has enough resources. He maintains his skills, is always drawing sketches, and is keen to talk about the week he and his mentor met on Zoom and painted portraits of each other. However, he is in a low position and cannot focus on the future because the future depends on unanswerable questions. He wants to know, when will we collectively take all necessary actions to control the pandemic, instead of getting immediate satisfaction? who knows. Until then, it is difficult to imagine reopening.

Nonetheless, a Broadway producer with 25 years of experience in the industry told me that she is now doing everything she can to reopen the show so that when the theater returns, she can market the next show correctly. This is her job now. This is a very high requirement. Young customers are eager to take risks, but how many people will spend money on tickets? Older customers can afford it, but who is willing to take the risk as soon as possible? What she is most certain of is that the audience will long for our escape from reality and romance after the war.

Although some venues will be closed and some areas may take longer to return, no one of me doubts that the theater will return anywhere and any place. They say that people will always yearn for the ancient and direct connection with live performances, and theater people will not despair.  

If anything, they expect something better. During the forced interruption and after George Floyd was killed, the American theater was effectively called out.

It is composed of 300 theater producers of color, including many stars and legends. Weaving into this era of seclusion is a search for collective souls. The theater has promised to hire more people of color as power and produce more stories that better reflect the actual population of the United States. This shows the future of exhibitions that are more connected to the world in which we live, and therefore better and more useful art related to more and more audiences.

Mark Loewenstern

include

, Winner of Samuel's French Skit Festival, and sold out

, Made its debut in Sacramento earlier this year. His other skit,  

,Published on 

.

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