Live theater’s return far off
Reopening ‘constantly under reassessment,’ but is complicated
Gov. Ned Lamont has announced that Connecticut’s movie theaters may be cleared to reopen as soon as June 20. But welcoming back live performances will take a while longer, say the leaders of several Hartford theaters.
Live performance adds several dimensions to the challenge, the theaters say, including safety concerns for both the audiences and the performers.
“If you look at the governor’s phases of reopening, cinemas are phase two, and we’re not until phase four,” said Cynthia Rider, managing director of Hartford Stage. “We have to think about what’s happening backstage. We’re more like a production company. The unions are all still looking at what needs to be in place for us to reopen.”
Hartford Stage has announced that they hope to reopen in October with two shows that were postponed from its 2019-20 season, “The Complete History of Comedy (Abridged)” and “Ah, Wilderness!” But reopening is “constantly under reassessment,” Rider says, and also depends on the success of a fundraising campaign which can offset the losses the theater suffered from canceling several months of performances.
“If movie theaters can reopen successfully,” Rider said, “we will be able to learn from that what we can do to make sure our audiences are safe.”
Will Wilkins is the executive director of Real Art Ways, which is not just a cinema but also hosts live performances and art exhibits. “Real Art Ways is a lot of things,” Wilkins wrote in an email, “a museum/gallery, a cinema, a presenter of music, performance, poetry readings, social events including Creative Cocktail Hour, and education for young and old. In all we do, we have a responsibility to keep employees, participants, and audiences safe.
“We’re in touch with our cinema colleagues, as well as museums and performing arts colleagues, here in Connecticut and around the country. Everybody is figuring out how best to handle this, and we’re all sharing and learning as we go. When we are confident that we can keep people safe, we will reopen, and not before.”
David Fay, executive director of The Bushnell, likewise said his main concern is ensuring the safety of guests as well as staff and actors.
“We are actively working with our … colleagues around the country, health care professionals, and our counterparts in Connecticut to develop viable reopening plans that are in concert with CDC guidelines, but are tailored specifically to our larger scale indoor venues,” he wrote in an email. “Most importantly, our audiences must be comfortable with returning to The Bushnell. We are
focused on the future and prudently reopening. We will continue to communicate with the public and let the community know our plans to enthusiastically and safely welcome them back.”
Rob Ruggiero, the producing artistic director of TheaterWorks Hartford, said “the answer to whether we’re opening soon has to be no, because we don’t have enough specific information about safety. Even if we were allowed to, I would not open TheaterWorks in June. We’re still waiting and seeing what’s possible. People are looking to arts organizations for best practices, but what’s often missing in those conversations is a medical professional.”
Ruggiero is also concerned that “I haven’t noticed a consistency in behavior with people wearing masks, or passing close to each other. Having the community consistently following the parameters is a challenge.” In theater audiences, behavioral issues can be magnified, he said. “Just say we’re back this month. It’s pollen season, and you’re coughing. Anybody sitting next to you is going to be uncomfortable. We then have to go to you and say ‘We need to reschedule you.’ You say ‘I have allergies.’ We say ‘You’re making others uncomfortable,’ and it escalates from there. Are you going to get up and leave? We have to think about everybody in the theater.
“Compared with movie theaters, theaters like ours require more personnel, and more investment in dollars, to create something. When you think about theaters reopening, you first go to audience safety, but what a lot of people forget is that you need to have actors rehearsing, actors in proximity to each other on a small stage, props being handed off, quick costume changes. … Those actors aren’t quarantined. They’re going home to different places, to their families and roommates. Right now, I don’t even think Equity [the actors’ union] would allow a show to happen. We’re going to try to get ready for whenever that window is, but we are still a small space. We can’t wait to be back, but we want our return to be a celebration, not a setback. People need to feel safe.” To that end, Ruggiero feels, “Masks will be a fashion statement this fall.”
Masks are very much on the minds of Julia Pistell and Greg Ludovici, the managing director and artistic director of the 90seat Sea Tea Comedy Theater on Asylum Street. The theater, which is the home base of the Sea Tea Improv troupe, also holds improv comedy classes and books touring companies.
Pistell said the Sea Tea theater is small enough that they are able to hold some performances with just a single staff member running everything. As efficient as that system is, it needs to be rethought for the coronavirus era because “that one person is touching everything: the tickets, the drinks, the sound board.”
“Our personal phase one of things we could do before we open the theater,” Pistell said, “are outdoor shows and studio classes.” The current plan is to reopen the classes and studios in late summer and the theater in the fall.
“We were working on a puppet show, which was a total side project, but we now realize that it could work perfectly as a way to restart the theater. With puppets, we could wear masks while performing.
“If our performers have to wear masks to perform comedy,” Pistell said, “it’s not that we wouldn’t do that, but will audiences laugh the same way with masks on? Masks will change the experience a lot.”
“You’d have to be funny using only your eyes,” Ludovici added. “What can we promise that will assure people’s safety? People who are worried are worried about how the people around them are behaving. Audience fear is a big problem. If the audience is afraid, they’re not going to come.”