www.broadwaysymposium.com: As we start looking at “re-opening” our economy, there is a lot to unpack and figure out. When you look specifically at show business, it gets even more complicated. We work in an environment that requires close contact, touching, even kissing. We share tight quarters, eat, drink, and sometimes live together (anyone do a bus and truck tour lately?).
There are many front of house issues that need to be addressed, but as a stage manager, I’ve been ruminating on what adjustments we may need to make behind the curtain in order to re-open in a responsible and functional way which is no easy task!
6 comments:
I love working in theatre because I love working with the people that do it, and it breaks my heart that there’s a possibility that it might never be as collaborative face to face again. These are all valid concerns and points made by the author, but I hope it doesn’t stay like that for long. When I manage shows, my favorite part is working closely with everyone on the team, physically bouncing between spaces and seeing with my own eyes the progress of each department. During shows, we’re crammed into tight backstage spaces or in packed dressing rooms. Humans were not meant for isolation, especially in the world we’ve built today, and theatre people especially were not meant for this. Our industry is built around closeness and community, and I dearly and desperately hope that we can safely have that again sooner than later.
It is unfortunate that we are needing to have these conversations, but I think it is really important and exciting that these conversations are beginning to happen. We need to be much more concerned with health once we return to work, school, and the industry as a whole. I think these ideas are actually really great ideas. Having someone on staff to check in on the company’s health is something that I think is really great regardless of a prior pandemic. It is nice to know that your company is well and that they are performing at their best. Some of the other ideas like virtual design meetings seem a little less effective, especially after going through a mini like this. It was so difficult to collaborate for Imaginarium and designs can no where near as effectively come across virtually over in person collaboration. While not all of these ideas are perfect, I think it is really important and hopeful that we are starting to talk about them and plan for obvious changes so we can go back earlier and prepared.
My sister is a stage manager and is currently home from school, quarantining with my family and I so we have had many conversations about the changing world for stage managers in the industry. She has a management contract for this summer and they already have a bunch of contingency plans written out for this summer, including ideas for a health manager that would be in charge of keeping all performance and rehearsal areas sanitized, as well as making sure that all performers are maintaining safe distances and practices safe and healthy habits. It is interesting to think that their responsibilities as managers may change more than any other position in the industry coming out of this. It is interesting because now we are finally getting to the point where we can hypothesize about how the industry is going to look when this crisis ends. It will definitely be a slow process but I am interested to see how it actually turns out in the end.
I think that it is really saddening to think about how long these effects of cover are gonna last, and how they will affect the industry we are all going in to. I think it is incredibly hard to continue working towards this degree for something that doesn't exist right now. Stage managers may never get the full collaborative experience that was once so paramount in their enjoyment of the industry they fell in love with, and that breaks my heart. I really am hoping that some day our it world will heal enough for all of us to go back to normal life, instead of living in this purgatory of not wanting to see or touch anyone for fear of causing another global pandemic. I really think we can make it through this if we all work together toward it, but articles like this make everything seem very bleak.
Some of these ideas seem more feasible and more likely than others, but regardless of the efficacy of each individual idea, this is certainly a discussion that we all need to be considering. Certainly, more PPE and more frequent and scheduled cleaning will become a necessity as long as the coronavirus is with us. I hardly see a full company quarantine, that would be very difficult to enforce, and probably not condusive to anyone's mental health. Yes, it would probably be the most airtight method to ensure that the production isn't home to an outbreak, but I just don't think it's feasible to ask people to do that (or for most productions to afford the housing and necessary arrangements). The most interesting idea in this article to me is the introduciton of a Health Manager. My first thought was that those duties would probably be folded into Company Management, and while they would certainly work closely with the Company Management team, the author is right that it should be it's own position. It should be a medical professional, and folding it into already busy Company Management teams risks leaving too many balls in the air for anyone to juggle, and a Health Management program isn't effective unless it's followed meticulously.
Some changes are definitely feasible, in fact, I was even surprised that some of the functions are to be introduced and not yet started in 21st Century. Healthcare Manger is essential for any jobs that requires a physical body as a tool. Does it mean that current physiotherapists are not necessarily properly trained??? What?? Anyway, the COVID era has also proved that it is possible to reduce the number of in-person meetings. Theatre workers prefer to gather, not only because they want to chitchat, but also because those chitchats can have a lot of potential for new ideas. However, overall work efficiency would probably be better by reducing those meetings. On the other hand, there is the same or more amount of issues and concerns than feasible and efficient suggestions. For example, although productions would need more understudy and swing coverage, they would also have to reduce the number of seats due to the social distancing measures. This means performers would have to perform more stages with lower wages. And when the number of cast increases, it means more lower wages.
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