The Seattle Times: When Broadway theaters finally reopen, at least one musical theater fan will show up. But she’ll look a little different.
“I would wear a mask and gloves,” said actress Emily Hampshire, the “Schitt’s Creek” star and huge “Hamilton” fan. “I don’t think we can forget what happened for a long time.”
2 comments:
“Which costume fabrics resist the virus better? How many people need to touch a prop in a 10-minute period and how can that prop be cleaned?” These questions mentioned by Actors’ Equity Association interest me. There is already a lot of discussion about reducing the number of audiences, requiring them to wear masks, and etc., but not much about the interaction between actors. To be honest, I think actors are like members of one big family, and therefore it must be extremely hard to prevent rehearsal acquired infection. In addition, if one person gets the coronavirus, people who have interacted with the person within last few days would have to stay home. That is to say, it is not about how to avoid cancelling rehearsals and performances. Even so, actors will come back sooner or later by their choices. It is important for unions like Actors’ Equity Association to consider all possible measures to provide an environment as comfortable as possible for the actors.
This is the first article I have seen discussing how a theater will operate in a post pandemic society on a micro level. The idea of an antiviral fabric is a really interesting notion (or at least one that is “resistant”), given that some studies are saying that coronavirus can persist on non-biological surfaces for about a week. While requiring audience members to wear masks seems like a valid question or requirement, I do not think that the actors should wear masks due to the aesthetic and emotional nature of theatre. That being said, though, I do not think that we should be endangering actors to allow for an audience member’s experience to prevail at the risk of an actor becoming ill. It is a very tricky question as to how and when to reopen. Selfishly, I hope that the industry can do so soon, but at the same time I, personally, feel that we should wait until a vaccine is developed as a precaution to all. I do not think that creators need stop creating or even that theaters should lose revenue, I just think that there are more ways to perform than on stage.
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