The Show Goes On During the Pandemic

 

[Since March 2020, when the theaters in New York City and all over the country closed for in-person performances, few industries have been hit as hard at their cores as the live performing arts.  Like other businesses that have sought alternative and innovative ways of keeping their work alive, theater has been coming up with ways to keep performing.  Here are some reports on some of the ways theaters around the U.S. have kept the faith with their audiences in the time of COVID-19.] 

THE SHOW WILL GO ON! PERFORMING ARTS PIVOT DURING PANDEMIC
by Jeffrey Brown and Anne Azzi Davenport 

[The following story aired in the PBS NewsHour on 23 October 2020.]

The coronavirus pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of American life, including the performing arts. Actors and dancers are experiencing unemployment rates over 50 percent, and many companies have said they will remain closed for in-person performances for the foreseeable future. But there are glimmers of hope and pockets of movement where the show goes on. Jeffrey Brown reports.

Judy Woodruff: The pandemic has affected every aspect of life, including the performing arts.

There’s plenty of data, third-quarter unemployment rates of 54 percent for dancers and 52 percent for actors, a 33-fold decline in consumer spending on all performing arts.

Many companies have announced that they will remain closed for in person performances for the foreseeable future.

But, as Jeffrey Brown found, there are glimmers of hope and pockets of movement, where the show, even in new ways, is going on.

Here’s a look for our ongoing arts and culture series, Canvas.

Jeffrey Brown: On a recent Indian summer evening in an urban New York City field next to a cemetery, the thrilling sound and movement of flamenco dancer Nelida Tirado, performed for a small socially distanced audience.

This is the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, known as BAAD!, an organization that presents work by local artists, especially women, people of color, and LGBTQ artists.

Dancer and choreographer Arthur Aviles is BAAD!’s co-founder and served as the evening’s emcee. Its theme? Staying alive.

Arthur Aviles: What’s important to us is to make sure that we keep in touch with who it is that we are in these unfortunate times.

We want to create a platform for the community to be a star on. That’s really what we say.

Jeffrey Brown: Housed in a Gothic revivalist church, with a black box theater that seats just 50 people, this 21-year-old organization has a seven-person staff and budget under a million dollars, supported by foundations and government grants.

Arthur Aviles: BAAD! is one of the few theaters or presenting arts organizations in the Bronx. And in this particular area, there are none. And that’s really sad for the Bronx.

Jeffrey Brown: Indoor performances aren’t possible, but BAAD! offers its space to local artists to create virtual events, and to teachers to continue dance and other classes.

In one, young students take turns in person, while the rest join via Zoom.

Arthur Aviles: This is about boxes, and where we are confined to that. And art is all about pushing against the boundaries of those boxes, and helping all of us see the world.

Jeffrey Brown: You’re used to having to deal with difficult circumstances.

Arthur Aviles: People would say, oh, you’re just poor. And I would say, yes, and, yes, and.

You can find great creativity in the simplicity of the voice, of the simplicity of the body, of the simplicity of communication.

Jeffrey Brown: In Portland, Maine, another approach as we watched a rehearsal for an upcoming indoor performance at Portland Stage.

How can this show go on? Through a determined response to an existential threat.

Anita Stewart: It’s like going on an expedition to the moon, in a way, Jeff. It’s a different way of doing something that I have been doing for years and years and years, and that seems so secondhand.

Jeffrey Brown: This is the kind of theater where the artistic director, Anita Stewart, pitches in to paint the sets.

Last spring, Portland Stage was closed, leading to a million-dollar loss in ticket revenues, a huge hit for a company with an overall budget of $2.5 million.

Was there ever any question for you that you would be presenting live theater?

Anita Stewart: Oh, yes, absolutely. This summer, it seemed like it was not going to be possible.

Jeffrey Brown: Instead, they’re aiming for an October 29 opening, but with a play, Lanford Wilson’s “Talley’s Folly,” directed by Sally Wood, with just two actors. And Kathy McCafferty and David Mason are married. No fears about social distancing.

Portland Stage installed equipment and its HVAC system which can eliminate any COVID virus in the air. And it provides regular testing for actors, crew and staff.

The audience will be limited to just 50 in a 288-seat theater.

Even 50, how do you convince people to come in?

Anita Stewart: It is a challenge. And I think a big part of it is doing the work that we’re doing to make sure know that we are taking safety precautions that are going to make this experience as safe as it possibly can be.

Jeffrey Brown: That’s helped by being in a state with relatively few COVID cases. Still, going forward is fraught.

Is this a viable financial model for you, though? This isn’t going to bring in much money, right?

Anita Stewart: Long-term, this is not viable. This is about providing a service right now. And it’s a service of the heart. It’s a service of the soul.

It’s a service for the artists that we can employ. And it’s a service for the small number of people that will be able to come in and see the work.

Jeffrey Brown: Innovative new production and financial models are also being tested, including scaling down the grand in opera to something more intimate and even colorful, in an outdoor circus tent on a baseball field.

Tomer Zvulun: You know, they say never waste a crisis. And I think this crisis created two sort of business models that could be with us for years to come, and that’s the people and the location.

Jeffrey Brown: Artistic director Tomer Zvulun is still working with international-caliber singers, but all are Atlanta-based, and now comprise the Atlanta Company Players, a kind of hometown all-star team.

They were all grounded anyway, with lost bookings and income. And, as soprano Jasmine Habersham told us, there’s now an added and unexpected benefit.

Jasmine Habersham: It changes the dynamics.

You can have a family, and you can be secure, and you can even just have that availability to be by the ones that you love and do what you love as well.

Jeffrey Brown: The company canceled its planned season and scaled down for a COVID era alternative, fewer singers and musicians, a smaller audience and budget, from $10 million to $6.6 million.

Tomer Zvulun: This pandemic really exposed the vulnerabilities of non-for-profits with a very high cost structure.

And it’s a lesson to all of us to make sure that the cost structure that we keep is nimble enough for us to pivot when times get rough. During some of the darkest time in humanity, artists found ways to connect with other people through performance.

And that is something that this company is very committed to.

Jeffrey Brown: The lessons here won’t apply to all performing arts organizations, and success for any of these groups is hardly guaranteed, with winter bringing new challenges.

Still, in some places, and last night in Atlanta, in new forms and spaces, the show goes on.

For the “PBS NewsHour,” I’m Jeffrey Brown.

[Jeffrey Brown is the chief correspondent for arts, culture, and society at PBS NewsHour.  Anne Azzi Davenport is NewsHour’s Senior Coordinating Producer of Canvas.] 

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CITY TRIES HELPING SMALL THEATERS WITH
OFF-BROADWAY POP-UP PERFORMANCES ACROSS NYC
by Ray Villeda

[Ray Villeda’s report was broadcast on WNBC-TV, Channel 4 in New York City, on 23 October 2020.]

The pop-ups are done in a way that will keep crowds small, and will be in all five boroughs as the city said it is trying to contribute to the same small companies that bring in $1.3 billion to the city's economy in normal times

The sounds of singing and of a performance, reminiscent of pre-pandemic Ne[w] York City, rang out on city streets once again Friday night, part of the city’s effort to entertain residents with artists and performers who still call The Big Apple home.

The audience wasn’t in a a concert hall or a Broadway theater, but rather was made up of people who happened to be walking by, stopped, took out their phone and listened to the small show on Astor Place in Manhattan.

The seemingly random act of artistry was just one example of the “Off Broadway in the Boros” program, which does exactly as its name describes — brings shows and performances to the five boroughs during the pandemic.

“We’ve been really exploring the new medium that is this online platform, but at the same time there’s nothing that’s going to replace that in-person experience,” said Artisic Director of the program, Mia Yoo.

The pop-ups are done in a way that will keep crowds small, to 50 people or less. Friday evening’s performance was put together by Dane Terry, who said he almost forgot how much he enjoyed the whole process.

“I didn’t know until today how much I . . . really missed that. I love writing, love sort of hiding and writing and making a thing then going out and sharing it,” Terry said.

The program serves as a way to help the small theater industry and its performers. The mayor’s Office of Media Entertainment said small theaters contributed $1.3 billion to the city’s economy before the COVID-19 pandemic. Now the city is trying to contribute to those same small companies.

“We just want to make sure we are amplifying that and really keeping it on the forefront of everyone’s minds,” said Anne Del Castillo, the Commissioner of the Office of Media and Entertainment.

There are performances scheduled in Queens and Brooklyn on Saturday, and on Staten Island on Monday. While the locations of the pop-up performances are being kept secret, organizers advise those looking to keep their eyes peeled. York City, rang out on city streets once again Friday night, part of the city’s effort to entertain residents with artists and performers who still call The Big Apple home.

[Ray Villeda is an Emmy Award-winning reporter,  He joined the NBC 4 New York news team in June 2015.]

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IN MIAMI, MAKING LIVE THEATER WORK DURING THE PANDEMIC
by Jeffrey Brown

[Jeffrey Brown, the chief correspondent for arts, culture, and society at PBS NewsHour, filed this story on 25 January 2021.]

Miami, one of the top tourist destinations in the U.S., has been hit hard by COVID and the travel shutdown. Officials at Miami International Airport say traffic is off by more than half, impacting hotels, restaurants, and hot spots like Miami Beach. But somehow live theater is happening. In fact, Miami is now home to the largest live production in the country. Jeffrey Brown reports.

Judy Woodruff: We want to now raise the curtain on an experiment to keep theater alive, while propping up a local economy amid the pandemic.

Miami, one of the country’s top tourist destinations, has been hit hard by COVID and the travel shutdown. Officials at Miami International Airport, where some 90 percent of tourists arrive, say traffic is off by more than half. And that affects hotels, restaurants, and hot spots like Miami Beach.

Somehow, though, live theater is happening. In fact, Miami is now home to the largest live production in the country right now.

Jeffrey Brown has our look for our ongoing arts and culture series, Canvas.

Actress (in performance): He said that he had taught you to value money over everything else.

Jeffrey Brown: Making theater in the time of pandemic, it’s the goal of Miami New Drama in a project called “Seven Deadly Sins,” seven 10-minute plays presented to a limited outdoor audience, performed by actors inside empty storefronts.

Venezuelan-born Michel Hausmann is the company’s co-founder and artistic director.

Michel Hausmann: It was a moment of reckoning for the whole industry, but it was also a moment for us to realize, OK, what it is that we do, right? Are we in the business of filling venues with people, or are we in the business of live storytelling?

And I think the paradigm shift opened up the way we were able see the possibilities of what we could still do.

Jeffrey Brown: The five-year-old company, described by Hausmann as a theater of color proudly representing its diverse city, normally performs a lively mix of new plays and classics in the Colony Theatre, a restored 1935 art deco gem in Miami Beach.

When COVID forced its closure, Hausmann had a revelation while riding his bike along nearby Lincoln Road, Miami Beach’s famed pedestrian street of shops and restaurants.

Michel Hausmann: I saw all the empty storefronts on Lincoln Road. I thought, hmm, there might be something there.

Jeffrey Brown: Empty storefronts, the impact of the pandemic and earlier economic shifts, and now a new kind of theater, performed twice during the evening.

Audience members gather at an outdoor bar aptly named Purgatory. They’re divided into small groups of no more than 12, each with a guide, and move storefront to storefront, play to play, with socially distance seating and earbuds that connect to wireless receivers. There is a kind of screen involved, but Hausmann wanted to get beyond the virtual experience.

Michel Hausmann: I think it’s as close as the real thing as you can get. The actors are seeing the audience and they’re seeing the audience’s response to the work. And I think this is theater with a capital T.

Jeffrey Brown: It’s also an artistic outlet and source of income for artists in need of both.

Hausmann commissioned seven acclaimed playwrights, five Latino, two Black, to write short plays performed by one or two actors.

Carmen Pelaez: When Michel Hausmann first called me to tell me about the idea, I was just like, yes.

Jeffrey Brown: Yes?

Carmen Pelaez: Yes. Yes, sign me up.

And the people that surface in memory, people that cut you to your core.

Jeffrey Brown: Playwright, filmmaker and actor Carmen Pelaez, a Miami native, performs in one play, “Memories in the Blood,” written by Dael Orlandersmith.

Actor (in performance): They say I’m to be placed in a center of study, of learning.

Jeffrey Brown: And she wrote another, titled “Strapped.”

Carmen Pelaez: I was excited to get my creative juices flowing again. So, I thought it was fairly ingenious. And I thought it was a — it was a huge relief for me, not only to be able to address some of the things that I’m seeing going on and feeling artistically, but to know that I was going to have a paycheck.

Jeffrey Brown: Strict protocols are followed, including weekly COVID tests.

Backstage, actors prep in pods’ [sic] with their own ventilation system. Those performing in pairs are also isolating together.

Actress (in performance): If you have come to the Red District at this hour, you must have a need.

Jeffrey Brown: The writers picked one of the classic seven deadly sins and created mini-dramas, some, more personal, like Pulitzer winner Nilo Cruz’s “Amsterdam Latitudes.”

Actor (in performance): It only takes one shattered storefront for you to shake your head in condemnation.

Jeffrey Brown: Others directly address current events.

Carmen Pelaez chose pride as her sin and wrote a piece, performed by Stephen G. Anthony, in which a statue of the 19th century politician John C. Calhoun, a defender of slavery, comes to life as he’s being pulled down.

Actor (in performance): And now you gather here today to try and take me down. Well, go ahead. My foundation is 400 years’ thick.

Jeffrey Brown: You were watching the same news stories we all were seeing, these monuments being pulled down, and then the playwright in you thought, what if this — what if one of those statues could actually speak now?

Carmen Pelaez: Right, because, if one of those statues could actually speak and be full-throated in the defense of themselves, we would also actually see what they were defending.

So, when you see the banality and the cruelty of what they were actually defending, are you willing to still see that statue up?

Jeffrey Brown: Artistic expressions, but also an economic engine. Sold-out performances, with ticket prices at $60 and $75, are covering the nonprofit theater company’s costs, and, for Lincoln Road, an upscale commercial center all about shopping and cultural experience, a new sign of life.

Miami’s mild climate helps, of course, but Michel Hausmann points out that theater has always adapted and changed.

Michel Hausmann: The way I look at it, theater has been around for 2,500 years. And even at the most horrible moments of humanity. There are different and new ways of telling stories that don’t necessarily mean that we all need to gather in a building, and that the lights dim, and then there’s intermission.

The theater, it is a very vast art form that is very generous and it’s very big. And we just need to keep exploring the outer rims of it.

Jeffrey Brown: And it’s no sin at all to hope for the success of this and other experiments in live theater.

For the “PBS NewsHour,” I’m Jeffrey Brown.

Judy Woodruff: So good to see some good things coming from this pandemic, in this case, something creative.

Thank you, Jeffrey Brown.