Playbill: Behind transparent face shields, Broadway veterans Charl Brown, Joel Perez, Kris Coleman, and Matthew Amira approached the modulation of Kander and Ebb’s “New York, New York” in tight harmonies, their voices ringing out in Times Square April 12. The performance heralded the opening of New York City’s latest COVID-19 vaccination center, located in the heart of the theatre district and designated for performing arts workers. The site itself is also a harmonious feat, signifying a collaboration between the city government and various theatre unions, with their members taking on new but familiar roles.
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I am glad to see that this site is up and running, and I think this is an excellent omen for when theater will be able to return. I have seen some other articles on here talking about having stage managers and other theater managers help with vaccine distribution and it is great to see that it is actually happening. I think it is great that the city of New York recognized the need to get arts workers vaccinated, as the industry provides a significant amount of revenue to the city. I love that the people running this site are looking to make it feel really good for the people who are going there to get vaccinated, like having those getting their vaccinations sign the wall and having those who are distributing vaccines wearing their show shirts. I think this is a great step forward that will hopefully bring us closer to theater reopening sooner rather than later.
I saw a video of Lin Manuel-Miranda's speech for the opening of this center a couple days ago. I was thrilled to hear about it opening and I am even more thrilled now to hear more about the inner workings of the center and all of the amazing things that it is doing for the theatre industry. The jokes about handing the reigns over to theatre management workers in order to "get the shit done" and get it done right have been throughout the pandemic and I am so happy to see that those jokes are now being proven correct. Employing theatre management to organize the vaccine distribution for theatre personnel is the best idea ever. At the very least it is a management system and style that the clientele are already very familiar with (although undoubtedly some changes had to be made). And at the most it puts many many people back into work temporarily, doing something that will ultimately lead back to a quicker return of their normal jobs. And using the ever present and ever resilient community of the theatre industry is possibly the best way that I have heard to get the most people possible vaccinated in one area.
I am very excited to hear that cast and crew members in the theatre and film industry are now finally able to be guaranteed a vaccine. This is a great step forward into restarting productions and allowing us to get back to ‘normal’ theatre. I think that once we are able to reopen the Broadway theatres, we will see a skyrocket in ticket sales because people are just dying to see some sort of live entertainment but in a safe way. I admit that live streamed content is not the same as live in person content but it was a good substitute for the time and I think that it will still continue on beyond the pandemic. I also like that this is for film industry people too. Hopefully sometime soon I will be able to see all of these lovely faces mentioned in the article back onstage! This was a good read!
It makes me feel immensely hopeful that the site is up and running and run by people involved in theater at that. This comes to shows how a community can come together even after what it feels like a lifetime of being set apart. The theater industry, much like everything under entertainment that relies on crowds of people in small spaces, has been one of the most affected by the pandemic. After the multiple bills and relief packages that have taken place this past year, it is nice knowing that we are taking the step in the right direction. This is not only good for these theater workers who will definitely need the vaccine when they go back to work, but for everyone else too. The faster we are able to get more people vaccinated the faster we can move forward with the phases, move to in-person events, and eventually come all together again.
The fact that this site is up is an amazing sign. Whether or not the site is perfect or is helping the number of people that it needs to help, the sentiment and notion of this is an amazing symbol for the theatre world and gives me hope that people expect us to move on from this global pandemic and get back into shape and doing theatre. I’d love to be able to go to New York and watch a show again. And honestly I think I’ll appreciate live entertainment and theatre so much more once we get it back. Despite the pandemic being horrible, it has taught me a lot of things and shown me some things to be more appreciative of. So once I am able to sit in a theatre next to somebody and watch actors on stage again, I will be so much happier about it and reflect upon everything it took to get me there.
It is really cool to see this vaccination center which is essentially run by theatre technicians and artists, for theatre technician and artists. Since the early days of the pandemic, many have joked that stage managers would be able to facilitate the vaccine distribution better than anyone else. In fact, I believe I just recently commented an another article regarding that the other week – but that’s aside from the point. Just like the other article, this article is another success story of a technician and manager-run vaccination clinic. As an added bonus, this location is specifically for theatre technicians and artists, to try to get the industry back on its feet in a timely manner in relation to everything else. I was pretty worried that it may be months or even more before the entertainment industry would come back to life, but it seems like a least New York is making an effort for entertainment workers to get vaccinated and back on their feet to facilitate the reopening of theatre and live entertainment as soon as possible. This is a really promising look for the rest of the industry and country, and I am very much looking forward to the end of this god forsaken pandemic.
This is such an interesting and exciting article to read. I really love how all of Broadway seems to have gotten together to do this for the arts community. Getting people vaccinated is going to be a key step in the reopening of theatre in New York and I love how they put all of the different types of people to work on this effort. Managers of Broadway shows managing the site makes perfect sense. They all know how to get things done. Theatre-workers do things extremely efficiently and well because we work under such tight deadlines usually. It’s exciting to see that they will be operating at 1500 shots a day at full speed and that gives me good hope that all of Broadway will be vaccinated and ready to go very soon. I am hoping that they can get things going again with some sort of normalcy. I really think that the best way to reopen theaters is to just require everyone to be vaccinated. It is going to be a huge team effort to get everything back to normal.
This initiative seems like a great way for people to raise morale during (hopefully) the last stretch of the pandemic as I think everyone can understand just how exhausting it has been up to this point. I find myself and peers losing steam to stay motivated on zoom school and I can only imagine these theater employees feeling similar- going without a real theatrical assignment for this long. I personally think its endearing that all of these people in the same sphere are able to run a clinic together and get a taste for the culture they have been missing for so long. It is also nice that they are participating in something objectively productive and for the immediate greater good of society. They must leave their workdays feeling accomplished for helping out so many! It also gives me hope for the future of the pandemic as people are able to band together like this—no longer are vaccines a distant promise, even people who don’t necessarily have experience in the medical field can now run a clinic to distribute them.
I’ve heard countless jokes about how if a stage manager was running the country's vaccinations then everything would be significantly better and now we have the chance to actually try it out. Honestly, I think many of the skills needed to be a great stage manager is transferable to running a vaccination site. It’s all about communication, scheduling, and making people feel safe. I’m glad other theatre workers that are also out of a job right now like ushers and box office workers can use their skills to make the site run as smoothly as possible. It’s really hopeful seeing this emerge, especially with the promise of vaccinating nearly 1,600 people a day. I’m really looking forward to the article that announces that this vaccination site is officially closed because it’s no longer necessary. It feels like we are finally nearing the end of everything and shows will be open before we know it.
This is so exciting to read about. It’s awesome that they hired theater professionals to work at this vaccine center and have found ways for their theatrical skills to translate. I am once again concerned by the addition of the word “optimistic” when describing the fall as an expected timeline for when things can return to normal. Looking at how quickly people are getting vaccinated in PA now that it’s opened up to the general public, and how eager people are to have their normal social life, I imagine we will have a majority vaccinated in the next two months. I understand that there is a large demographic suspicious of the vaccine. I will be honest; I don’t think that demographic would be coming to see Broadway shows regardless. I think people need to see the light at the end of tunnel and need to have a carrot to work towards. It seems to me that we as a society have maxed out how much we can be motivated by fear of a pandemic or fear of lockdowns. The only solution left is just to get everyone vaccinated faster than they catch COVID.
First and foremost, I had no idea that Broadway had a COVID-19 Vaccination Center! This is so great and makes me soar knowing that theatrical workers, whether they are performers, designers, managers, or stagehands are having a source to get vaccinated. I believe that providing everyone working in a theater, where things are meant to be up close and live, is a very equitable thing to take action on. I especially thought it was funny when Sampliner quotes that if you can manage a show, you can manage anything. They are really proving themselves with this vaccination center for Broadway and is a great step in moving forward with taking care of their artists and bringing the stage back to the public audience. I hope that other big corporations or companies are providing such care though. I mean this in other theater companies or even non theater companies where there are blue collar workers, unionized or not.
Never in my life would I have believed someone if they told me that theatre workers are now, in some sense, medical professionals. Going from stage manager to site manager does not seem like too crazy of a jump but the circumstances just make it funny to me. There was a popular joke floating around that if stage managers did vaccine rollout, we would be out of the pandemic by now but I did not think this jest would ever become somewhat of a reality. It is also amazing that these theatre workers can get jobs doing this in the first place, and put their skills back into an occupation they otherwise would have never taken. It is crazy to see how flexible people become when work is available and I wonder how the shift back will be once we near the end of dosing. I guess only time will tell.
YES!!!! I am so excited that stage managers are being employed to run the vaccination site! Now, the manager saying she was excited to be able to work 60 hour weeks again made me a little worried, but that’s probably the life of the company manager for Wicked. It’s so cute that they have everyone who gets vaccinated sign the wall, and that everyone wears their show shirts! That’s probably a little bit sad for those coming from shows which won’t be reopening, but that does pave the way for new theatre to open when Broadway’s lights come up again. I’m so glad the city of New York realized the importance of having a center dedicated to performing arts workers. It’s a massive industry, and these are skilled workers with very specialized skills that don’t transfer very easily into other job forces. Hopefully this means we can see shows up and running before the end of the year.
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