“Last week’s layoffs were just the latest addition to a list of controversial upheavals for the company in recent years, including climbing ticket prices in early 2017, the move from Chelsea to the bigger, less convenient Hell’s Kitchen theater in late 2017, mass layoffs in 2018, shuttering the East Village theater in 2019, and constant debate surrounding its choice to not pay performers. … There’s growing sentiment among many people in the UCB community that even if the theaters return post-coronavirus, they may not.” – Vulture
Category: theatre
Cirque Du Soleil Furloughs 95% Of Its Employees
“The Montreal-based circus giant said temporarily cutting 4,679 jobs was necessary after 44 shows worldwide were shuttered amid the virus outbreak.” – The Hollywood Reporter
The Night The Lights Went Off Off-Broadway
The sudden loss of community is especially marked in theatre. “As companies cancel productions that were months to years in the making for the sake of social distancing and self-quarantining, people whose work depends on bringing people together remain in a particularly precarious position. The whiplash of the moment is striking.” – American Theatre
Our Story Is Not Ended: Chay Yew On His Last, Closed Play And The Future Of Theatre
Yew, who was ending his run as artistic director of Victory Gardens in Chicago: “We will emerge with new stories to tell. We will revisit old tales that give our lives new meaning and sustenance. We will find innovative ways to see and think. We will found new spaces for our stories; they may again be in shuttered storefronts, church basements, or around the fire, as when we first told stories. New homes will be built by a new generation of American artists, and they will be more equitable and inclusive than our current ones.” – American Theatre
Broadway Unions Reach Deal With Producers To Help Workers For A Few Weeks
The “emergency relief agreement” negotiated by the Broadway League and 14 different unions created an agreement “to pay hundreds of actors, musicians, stagehands and others for the first few weeks of the industry shutdown, and to cover their health insurance for at least a month.” – The New York Times
What Theatre Can Do For Humanity In The Midst Of This Unprecedented Crisis
First of all, theatre can acknowledge the uncertainty, anxiety, grief, and pain of this time – and the resilience that so many people are bringing right now. “Some theatres … have recorded performances, and many others are doing or considering live streaming. That is a good start. After this crisis passes, we will also need to equip education and community engagement departments with the funds and technology tools needed to make our work more accessible to our communities—the future of our field and our future audiences depend on it. I remain hopeful we can do it. Theatre people are nothing if not resourceful and adaptable.” – American Theatre
Hot Young Playwrights Are Now Teaching Workshops Online
Young Jean Lee, Lauren Gunderson, and Jaclyn Backhaus are among those who have begun leading playwriting lessons and seminars on the web since coronavirus sent almost everyone home. Gunderson’s first session had 900 people watching live; by the next night, 23,000 had watched. – Los Angeles Times
Lynn Nottage And Annie Baker Say Theaters Have Asked Them To Give Back Advances
“In a sign that American theaters are desperately worried about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, playwrights are reporting that they have been asked to return payments for productions that have been canceled or postponed.” – The New York Times
Atlanta Is A Majority-Black City. Why Is There So Little Black Theater?
“Though Atlanta’s … bustling professional theaters staged 187 productions last year, only 22 were by playwrights of color.” Jesse Green went there to talk to black actors and directors, and to the directors of two big and largely white theaters, “to see whether a city that has long been a magnet for the black middle class is dealing any better with these matters than New York does — which is to say, not very well.” – The New York Times
For The American Shakespeare Center, COVID Could Be An Existential Threat. Here’s How The Company’s Holding It Together
The replica Elizabethan theatre in the Shenandoah Valley normally thrives, in the usual hand-to-mouth way, with a mix of school groups and out-of-town visitors. Now both are gone indefinitely. Peter Marks traveled to Staunton, Va. to see how the ASC is coping. – The Washington Post