Within just the last two weeks, after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in New York City on March 1, the number of cases in NYC alone grew to 329, all of Broadway has been shut down at least until April 12th, and starting Tuesday March 17, all remaining legitimate theaters, movie theaters, and public schools have been ordered shut, and restaurants, nightclubs and bars will be restricted to take-out or delivery.
As I pointed out in writing up the last play I’m going to be seeing on stage for a while, The Fre at the Fleaon Friday the 13th:
The crisis now has left New Yorkers double if not triple shell-shocked, threatening our physical and mental health, and our livelihoods. But for now, the current crisis also largely denies us the community and spiritual uplift that theater provides in times of crisis.
At the top of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) page put together by the Centers for Disease Control, it says: “CDC recommends that for the next 8 weeks, organizers cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the U.S.”
So talk of the theaters reopening in mid-April may be optimistic.
(A succinct 16-minute explanation of the public health crisis:
The theater community is already beginning to form a response — and a sense that theater will be going online.
From New York Theater Workshop’s production of Martyna Majok’s “Sanctuary City” to La MaMa ETC’s “Re-Fest” — and shows in California theaters from ACT San Francisco to South Coast Rep —
theaters are turning to video capture to preserve live performances of shows that are shut or shutting down.
How can I watch actual theater – or Broadway-like shows — online?
Links to online services, several of them free in the month of March.
Around 60 tip-top experimental performances (incl. Okwui Okpokwasili’s Bronx Gothic, the Rude Mechs’ The Method Gun, and Young Jean Lee’s The Shipment), all for free through April, all streaming on https://t.co/1seTBwTa20 !!!! See one each night, keep that show-going habit ALIVE
— Helen Shaw (@Helen_E_Shaw) March 15, 2020
Livestreaming Panel: Artists In a Time of Global Pandemic, on Howlround Monday, March 16 at 8 p.m. ET
COVID-19 Freelance Artists Resources
An impressive list that includes links to everything from health institutions geared to artiststo funding sources to best practices for online teaching to how to “interrupt” racism and bias.
“There Is No ‘Surplus’”: How Off & Off-Off Broadway Theater Is Coping. @Helen_e_shaw surveys both the threats and the strategies for survival (#Livestreaming!) https://t.co/da5QL2cRt9 pic.twitter.com/U8QRXOFO8T
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) March 14, 2020
I was supposed to be playing Seymour right now. I don’t know the future of the show, but it was my first chance at being a male lead while looking the way I do. I wanted to prove to everyone that a man of my size can play this romantic lead, and wanted my talent to be seen🥺 pic.twitter.com/8DJeU07Gio
— Nick Adams (@adamsnick92) March 14, 2020
Sick of the birthday song yet? Here’s something new to sing while you wash your damn hands. ❤️👏🏻🎶🌈🎲😷#TheCoronaVirusLament pic.twitter.com/V3D6Gt6E72
— Randy Rainbow (@RandyRainbow) March 15, 2020
Department of Silver Lining
Shakespeare Wrote His Best Works During a Plague
Broadway is Closed: Write Poems Instead by Sarah Ruhl
The one good thing that may come out of this crisis — the end of the phrase “going viral” as a boast.
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) March 14, 2020
The Outstanding Life of an Awkward Theater Kid. A theater kid book from Trumpland
Biographic Audrey: Audrey Hepburn’s Life as A Book of Infographics
