Quartz: Every play during a pandemic is, by necessity, experimental. For the few theater companies that are attempting to hold live performances, every artistic element of staging—from set design and casting to costumes—is being reconsidered to safeguard the health of actors, stage crew, and theater-goers.
5 comments:
This might be the most interesting theater-and-covid article I’ve read to date. First off, NYU (specifically their MFA program) has been staging live performances; this includes all sorts of protocol for COVID safety, but also a really interesting discussion around masks. Masks, of course, are a huge part of preventing the spread of COVID– so they have been incorporated into the costume design for shows, utilizing a combination of efficiency on the COVID end of things and design to work with the rest of the costumes and show as a whole. I think this is a fascinating idea and would love to see some examples of this on stage myself. Secondly, the comparison of theater during the 1918 pandemic versus our own current pandemic and response is a curious topic. Of course, we are all painfully aware of the closing of theaters and overall effect of COVID on the industry; but in 1918, theaters were kept open as a “beacon of hope” of sorts (perhaps not the wisest decision, hence the difference between that response and what we are experiencing today). This dichotomy is fascinating to me, and I really enjoyed this article.
I was literally so excited to read this when I saw the top image of the article. Mask is undoubtedly indispensable thing during these periods, and converting that necessity into the element of art is truly brilliant. While there would still be constraints (as mentioned in the article, people could never really sing properly with their masks on), I think letting the masks being one of the characteristics or the representation that the performers exhibit is a great idea. While it was not so delightful to read that some people predict the theater will remain closed until mid-2022, this kind of articles help me shed light on the brighter side, for instance, even more developed form of virtual performances. Also, this is not really related to the mask and COVID issue, but I liked the part where they mention the importance of audience seats. These days, watching actors performing with empty audience seats keep reminding me that audience is another crucial component of performances. I hope COVID to soon become the issue of the past like we discuss the instances in 1918.
I always am curious about what theaters around the country are doing to be able to perform. I think that while it is cool NYU is having live productions the methods they are using still are not very safe or foolproof. Recent studies about masks have shown that a cloth mask on its own is not very effective at preventing the spread of COVID 19 without a second medical mask underneath Furthermore other studies have shown that even wearing masks while being inside the risk of infection jumps exponentially regardless of six-foot distance or not. I don't know if what NYU is doing is entirely responsible especially right now when ICU and hospital capacity is limited. While I miss live theater with an audience badly I think that we have to remember the bigger picture. An event like this could easily spread COVID 19 to the outside community impact more vulnerable people. I think even though it is never the some and rather upsetting Zoom theater is the only responsible and safe theater that can occur right now.
I love this idea!!! I totally think we should implement this into our shows this year. Creating masks tailored to the actor’s faces and designed for each character would be an interesting challenge for the costumes department. And, like the article said, it would be valuable in teaching design accessibility. NYU has already done a lot of research on the construction of the masks, so I think this would be a viable option for CMU drama to consider this semester. Hopefully, we’ll eventually be able to follow in NYU’s footsteps of producing live productions. This largely depends on vaccine rollout, and the spread of COVID in the greater Pittsburgh/Allegheny area. With vaccines being administered at about 1 million doses per day, I’m hopeful that we can at least incorporate more live elements into our productions by the fall semester. But in the meantime, designing masks sounds like a fun challenge.
This article made me both apprehensive and hopeful, somehow at the same time. On the one hand, I'm happy to hear that some sort of theater has managed to reopen during these times, and even more so that it is a fellow theater program. On the other hand, however, I am worried that these precautions might not be enough to protect the actors and the audience involved. Requiring merely a negative COVID test to attend is not enough precaution for the audience members, none of which the school knows where they have been or if they've been exposed. For one, COVID tests can provide false negatives. For another, to paraphrase our own Tartan Testing Program, a negative test is just a snapshot of the exact time at which it was taken. A person can be exposed at any point after that, be it a minute, hour, or day after that test. I love the ingenuity that went into the custom face masks and stage distancing that NYU implemented and I think that combined with a stronger COVID vetting system will provide theaters with a good route forward, but as it stands right now, I don't think I can in good faith trust this method 100%.
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