As theatres go dark, artists are left in limbo
Ottawa theatre artist Bronwyn Steinberg is wondering how she will get through the next couple of months after income that she was counting on suddenly evaporated because of the novel coronavirus-induced shutdown of live entertainment.
She was cast in the Great Canadian Theatre Company’s spring production of Unholy, by Toronto playwright Diane Flacks, which was to start rehearsals on March 31 for its April run. It’s now postponed until the fall.
“That was going to be my biggest source of income this spring,” Steinberg said from her home, where she is in isolation (but symptom free) after a trip to New York City earlier this month.
“Hopefully we can still do that show and have income in the fall. As a self-employed artist, it’s very contract-to-contract.”
For now, she will be dipping into her savings and finding out if she’s eligible for the federal government’s relief package. She’s also the founder and artistic director of TACTICS, an independent theatre series that was to hold its sixth annual edition at Arts Court this spring.
Now that’s up in the air, too. Even her side hustle as a yoga teacher has been shut down, though she’s taken to leading daily yoga classes on Facebook Live.
Steinberg is not alone. Across the country, theatre artists and companies are trying to manage without a cash flow and wondering when they can get back to work.
At the GCTC, Ottawa’s largest professional independent theatre company, the stage is dark and the building locked, but behind the scenes, staff are still planning to announce the 2020-21 season next week. They’re aiming to unveil it on World Theatre Day, March 27.
“Right now, we’re in the middle of our annual subscription campaign for the following season, so it’s the time of year that we really rely on those subscription renewals as cash flow,” said Eric Coates, the GCTC’s artistic director, in an interview from his home.
He’s spent much of this week on the phone with subscribers and donors asking for their patience during this uncertain time.
“We’re launching next Friday with the full knowledge that we may have to make changes,” he said, noting that postponing Unholy from spring to fall is likely to bump another play into 2021.
As for the status of the current play, Daisy, which had one performance on March 12 before the decision was made to postpone it, Coates said they will decide at a senior staff meeting Monday whether or not to resume the run, which was rescheduled for April 7-19.
The artists involved in Daisy had their contracts extended into April as the company was determined not to leave them high and dry when the plug suddenly was pulled on the production.
“The independent artists were absolutely front of mind for us,” Coates said. “It was really important to me to find every way to mitigate the pain that independent artists are going to experience. We are doing everything we can to give them an assurance that the job will be waiting for them when people can get back to work.”
To stay in shape for the proposed April run, the cast of Daisy has been rehearsing lines as a group on Zoom, the web-based video conferencing tool, with each of the actors tuning in from their own home.
Steinberg also used Zoom on Thursday to host an online reading of a playwright colleague’s work in progress. “We had about 20 people join us. About seven or eight were actually reading, and the other 10 were just there to listen in and join the discussion afterwards. It was surprisingly effective,” she said. “At least I’m getting some joy from all the connection that’s happening online.”
Another GCTC production that was supposed to start rehearsals around this time was the annual Lawyers’ Play fundraiser, featuring a cast of more than 25 local lawyers. Last year’s show pulled in $129,000 to support the GCTC and another charity.
Instead, Coates is working on an event that could be launched quickly to raise money when it’s safe for audiences to gather.
“I’m busily concocting a script for a good old-fashioned variety show with musical entertainment and sketches and tributes to various people,” he said. “I’m hoping it takes the form of a celebratory gala.” lsaxberg@postmedia.com