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Thursday, September 09, 2021
"Please, please, please wear your mask in the theatre"
Exeunt Magazine: Excuse me, would you mind putting your mask on?
Uh, Punchdrunk isn’t coming to London until next year sweetie.
No, I mean the other ones – you know, like, a face covering.
If only this was how most conversations with people who aren’t wearing masks went. There have been a lot of artless recently about organizations in the same city that have decided to adapt the same rules regarding masks as the other arts organizations in that city. This article brings up that it is very confusing for the audience members when there are different rules for every theatre they go to. I am nervous to start going back to performances in person partly for the situation that this person brings up in this article. I would feel much more comfortable if everyone in the theatre was masked, but I am sure there will be people like in this article that don’t want to. I know that I would not be comfortable having that conversation with someone, so I would just be sitting in the theatre uncomfortable waiting for the show to be over so I can leave.
The humor in this piece was nice. The humor of trying to reason with someone who just doesn’t want to wear a mask is a very real thing and it is kind of hilarious that it is a universal experience. I thought it did a great job of addressing the still very real health risks of live entertainment amidst the pandemic. It is important to remember that while the vaccines are helpful, they do not make you invincible. It is our responsibility to keep each other and our performers safe. An easy way to do that is to get the vaccine and still mask up. As theatre begins to come back to life we have to remember that it could all be taken away again if we do not continue to put the pandemic and our health as our top priority. If we all do our part and remain consistent the pandemic will pass but we all must do our part. This is a hard reality for some to face.
This was an incredibly relatable and funny imaginary conversation. I hate this about myself, but I did kind of relate to the blue text person, not in regards to wearing a mask, but the sentiment about seeing all of the masks made them sad and how they just wanted to return to before all of this. I feel like that's a decently human response, and the plain text person was very kind and patient to talk them through why they should care and wear a mask. The plain text person broke it down really well that like, it's not fair to put your grief about not wearing a mask on some poor usher or box office person. In a very real way, people will follow other's example and we should try to show others that wearing a mask during a show is not that big of a deal, or the end of the world.
The imaginary conversation that takes place in this article is simultaneously entertaining, illuminating, and a little bit cheesy. The use of humor throughout the article is quite engaging, and adds a nice flair of entertainment to a piece that is meant to highlight the all too familiar struggle of getting people to wear masks. At this point in time, the constant stream of reminders to wear masks everyday and everywhere has become mind-numbing. So to see a more creative spin on such a commonplace message was surprisingly refreshing. And especially in the world of theater, which has only just recently begun to resurrect, wearing masks (and health and safety precautions in general) cannot be disregarded or taken lightly. It’s obviously very frustrating to most people that theater still has not been able to return entirely to normalcy and familiarity, but the consequences of failing to mask as a whole are far worse. It is still beyond me how some people haven’t been able to realize this yet.
I can only wish every conversation about masking wearing was this civil and polite. I feel like it’s so hard to try and get someone to wear a mask when they either don’t believe covid is real at all or that just because they have the vaccine they are immune from covid. It’s upsetting the number of people who don’t seem to understand that the covid-19 vaccine does not fully prevent you from catching or spreading the virus, and it’s even more upsetting that a lot of the people who do understand that will use the fact that you can still get the virus as a reason to not get the vaccine! I also think Saville’s mention of different theaters each having their own different set of rules regarding covid is a really important thing to notice. For one, it is true how you can almost immediately tell what the political views of a company’s owner or board are by simply seeing if they require masks or not. And you’d think that after the year and a half that the theater industry just had, everyone would want to be more careful . But it seems as though a lot of theater companies have forgotten what it’s like to not be able to create art for 18 months.
I find it crazy that nearly 20 months later we are still arguing about the masks. As others have pointed out, all it takes is poor timing with vaccine immunity waning to cause an explosion in communities of individuals that got it earliest (read: the elderly and immunocompromised), and these groups are also most susceptible to the mortal consequences of covid. That means that case numbers really might just shoot back up if the effects of the vaccines wear off earlier than we originally anticipated. We could be right back at square one and have to shut our doors again. I personally love that we are able to be back in the space doing what we love but I believe the masks should be a no questions asked kind of thing. Post it clearly and boldly that it is required, if they show up without one, maybe give them a paper one. Or just turn them out to the streets. It's not a political thing, it's about how absolutely screwed our workers have been in the last year and a half without being able to ply their trade. We need to look out for ourselves and our own and not enforcing our own mask guidelines jeopardizes that.
Masks work. They have and they will continue to do so. We aren't going to escape COVID forever, and ultimately it will probably become another 'flu' like virus that mutates every year (though much deadlier and more transmissible). The reality is I can't see a future with public events where masks aren't going to be at least part of the conversation. The flu rate dropped significantly during the pandemic in part because of the measures that were taken, particularly with masks. 60,000 people per year died due to the flu before, but masks helped prevent that from happening! They prove to be an overall benefit to public health, and yet of course here we are. I do not feel comfortable right now in the school of drama letting public audiences enter our spaces, let alone if they are masked. As the author notes, people will come up with every excuse not to wear it if they can, and that's a risk we can't take right now. Masks are going to be a part of our lives not just for the near future, but I anticipate for the rest of our lives. They work, so just wear them.
If only every mask argument went this smoothly. The non-masked person in the story talks about how they wanted to forget about the dystopian state of the world for just one night and while I agree it would be nice to live in a fantasy world for a bit, it only perpetuates the issues. The temporary escape does not help end this pandemic. Experts argue that we risk creating more variants by not masking and continuing to spread the virus. This prolongs the epidemic. To stop this virus we all need to sacrifice and put in the hard work now. We need to protect theater and the public. In addition, Saville’s point that with every theater having different mask policies it creates enormous confusion for theatre goers and those charged with enforcing policies. It would be much better to create uniform policies.
8 comments:
If only this was how most conversations with people who aren’t wearing masks went. There have been a lot of artless recently about organizations in the same city that have decided to adapt the same rules regarding masks as the other arts organizations in that city. This article brings up that it is very confusing for the audience members when there are different rules for every theatre they go to. I am nervous to start going back to performances in person partly for the situation that this person brings up in this article. I would feel much more comfortable if everyone in the theatre was masked, but I am sure there will be people like in this article that don’t want to. I know that I would not be comfortable having that conversation with someone, so I would just be sitting in the theatre uncomfortable waiting for the show to be over so I can leave.
The humor in this piece was nice. The humor of trying to reason with someone who just doesn’t want to wear a mask is a very real thing and it is kind of hilarious that it is a universal experience. I thought it did a great job of addressing the still very real health risks of live entertainment amidst the pandemic. It is important to remember that while the vaccines are helpful, they do not make you invincible. It is our responsibility to keep each other and our performers safe. An easy way to do that is to get the vaccine and still mask up. As theatre begins to come back to life we have to remember that it could all be taken away again if we do not continue to put the pandemic and our health as our top priority. If we all do our part and remain consistent the pandemic will pass but we all must do our part. This is a hard reality for some to face.
This was an incredibly relatable and funny imaginary conversation. I hate this about myself, but I did kind of relate to the blue text person, not in regards to wearing a mask, but the sentiment about seeing all of the masks made them sad and how they just wanted to return to before all of this. I feel like that's a decently human response, and the plain text person was very kind and patient to talk them through why they should care and wear a mask. The plain text person broke it down really well that like, it's not fair to put your grief about not wearing a mask on some poor usher or box office person. In a very real way, people will follow other's example and we should try to show others that wearing a mask during a show is not that big of a deal, or the end of the world.
The imaginary conversation that takes place in this article is simultaneously entertaining, illuminating, and a little bit cheesy. The use of humor throughout the article is quite engaging, and adds a nice flair of entertainment to a piece that is meant to highlight the all too familiar struggle of getting people to wear masks. At this point in time, the constant stream of reminders to wear masks everyday and everywhere has become mind-numbing. So to see a more creative spin on such a commonplace message was surprisingly refreshing. And especially in the world of theater, which has only just recently begun to resurrect, wearing masks (and health and safety precautions in general) cannot be disregarded or taken lightly. It’s obviously very frustrating to most people that theater still has not been able to return entirely to normalcy and familiarity, but the consequences of failing to mask as a whole are far worse. It is still beyond me how some people haven’t been able to realize this yet.
I can only wish every conversation about masking wearing was this civil and polite. I feel like it’s so hard to try and get someone to wear a mask when they either don’t believe covid is real at all or that just because they have the vaccine they are immune from covid. It’s upsetting the number of people who don’t seem to understand that the covid-19 vaccine does not fully prevent you from catching or spreading the virus, and it’s even more upsetting that a lot of the people who do understand that will use the fact that you can still get the virus as a reason to not get the vaccine! I also think Saville’s mention of different theaters each having their own different set of rules regarding covid is a really important thing to notice. For one, it is true how you can almost immediately tell what the political views of a company’s owner or board are by simply seeing if they require masks or not. And you’d think that after the year and a half that the theater industry just had, everyone would want to be more careful . But it seems as though a lot of theater companies have forgotten what it’s like to not be able to create art for 18 months.
I find it crazy that nearly 20 months later we are still arguing about the masks. As others have pointed out, all it takes is poor timing with vaccine immunity waning to cause an explosion in communities of individuals that got it earliest (read: the elderly and immunocompromised), and these groups are also most susceptible to the mortal consequences of covid. That means that case numbers really might just shoot back up if the effects of the vaccines wear off earlier than we originally anticipated. We could be right back at square one and have to shut our doors again. I personally love that we are able to be back in the space doing what we love but I believe the masks should be a no questions asked kind of thing. Post it clearly and boldly that it is required, if they show up without one, maybe give them a paper one. Or just turn them out to the streets. It's not a political thing, it's about how absolutely screwed our workers have been in the last year and a half without being able to ply their trade. We need to look out for ourselves and our own and not enforcing our own mask guidelines jeopardizes that.
Masks work. They have and they will continue to do so. We aren't going to escape COVID forever, and ultimately it will probably become another 'flu' like virus that mutates every year (though much deadlier and more transmissible). The reality is I can't see a future with public events where masks aren't going to be at least part of the conversation. The flu rate dropped significantly during the pandemic in part because of the measures that were taken, particularly with masks. 60,000 people per year died due to the flu before, but masks helped prevent that from happening! They prove to be an overall benefit to public health, and yet of course here we are. I do not feel comfortable right now in the school of drama letting public audiences enter our spaces, let alone if they are masked. As the author notes, people will come up with every excuse not to wear it if they can, and that's a risk we can't take right now. Masks are going to be a part of our lives not just for the near future, but I anticipate for the rest of our lives. They work, so just wear them.
If only every mask argument went this smoothly. The non-masked person in the story talks about how they wanted to forget about the dystopian state of the world for just one night and while I agree it would be nice to live in a fantasy world for a bit, it only perpetuates the issues. The temporary escape does not help end this pandemic. Experts argue that we risk creating more variants by not masking and continuing to spread the virus. This prolongs the epidemic. To stop this virus we all need to sacrifice and put in the hard work now. We need to protect theater and the public. In addition, Saville’s point that with every theater having different mask policies it creates enormous confusion for theatre goers and those charged with enforcing policies. It would be much better to create uniform policies.
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