Alex Freeman - Page 10

Coming back from a year and a half shutdown was never going to be easy. The challenges brought not only by the pandemic but by individual artists standing up against the myriad of injustices that were normalized within the industry meant that as theatre artists got back to work, there were going to need to be serious changes to “business as usual”.

New data this week that indicates many of the technological advances that occurred during the pandemic for audience interaction are here to stay - and have been adopted by older patrons in addition to younger patrons. A promising sign for a more efficient, digital first industry.

Regardless of how one might be emotionally feeling about the Tony Awards, one thing is certain - it marked an important moment in the return of the theatre. While there are still plenty of challenges ahead for the industry, taking the evening to honor performers from the previous theatre season was an important step to take to move forward.

On Thursday this week, we'll be joining Axiom Medical for a free webinar about how you can do just that - without becoming an epidemiologist in your spare time. This week we have stories about Broadway's reopening, producing green theatre, and more about what the future of the industry might look like.

Live events continue to come back with protocols that, so far, don’t seem to be causing a widespread increase in cases. While the delta variant (and other variants of COVID-19) continues to cause uncertainty, it does appear that vaccine and mask mandates are holding steady as a safe approach to bringing audiences back in house.

Congratulations to the companies of Hadestown and Waitress becoming the latest shows to open up on Broadway. If you haven't seen either André de Shields leading the Hadestown final dress audience in New York, New York or the Waitress casts post-bow tribute to Nick Cordero, make sure to check those out and get your tissues ready. Below, we've also got stories about a new gun law in Texas (and its impact on arts organizations), the impacts of long covid on performers, and new leadership models that are emerging for theatre companies.

The return to Broadway videos have been rolling out over the past few weeks from various shows as they all get ready to welcome back audiences this fall - but the This is Broadway campaign from the League of Broadway Theatres is a beautiful love letter to the stage - and the League hopes it will encourage audiences to come back by reminding them of why they fell in love with the stage in the first place. With more Broadway shows set to welcome back audiences this week, we'll continue tracking developments of both audience and artists safety.

Many theatres feel that if they don’t press forward, then they’ll be sealing their own fate - that leaves many to be faced with seemingly impossible decisions: do we continue streaming and not bring anyone back in? Do we produce a hybrid season? Are our audiences ready to come back?

The last year and a half has had a lot of members of the theatre industry questioning what was meant by business as usual - and many of those questions have a lot of merit. While theatres have spent much of the pandemic trying to survive, they’ve also been spending time trying to not only answer those questions, but find the best path forward.

Despite recent headlines about the delta variant of COVID-19, more regions are preparing to move ahead with reopening plans. While this will certainly bring about some hesitation from audience members, most survey data indicates that with the proper safety plan, audiences are motivated to come and see the show.

With Pass Over moving into their space, another big step was taken on the Road to Reopening for Broadway in particular - along with the announcement of safety plans and procedures from the League and Unions.

Last week, AEA announced that they were opening up membership to anyone who had worked professionally in the American theatre, more productions in the UK were forced to cancel performances, and Steppenwolf announced new leadership.

The news felt like it made a distinct shift after the Fourth of July weekend, with more show openings, casting announcements, and season announcements being the focus, as opposed to ongoing issues related to the pandemic.

The news felt like it made a distinct shift after the Fourth of July weekend, with more show openings, casting announcements, and season announcements being the focus, as opposed to ongoing issues related to the pandemic.

As we hit the start of the second half of the year, the news stories over the last week really exemplify what we’ll be tracking throughout the fall: Sydney has had to re-enter lockdown, more regions are committing to reopening plans, and the Unions and Producers are working long hours to try and reach agreements to move the industry forward safely.

It was a big week in New York theatre as Bruce Springsteen opened a Broadway show for the first time in 15 months to a fully vaccinated crowd. While theatre has continued in various forms throughout the pandemic, seeing the return of a show to one of the major commercial centers of the industry was an important step from an economic and emotional standpoint.

While the UK has delayed their full reopening date by nearly a month, other regions across the globe continue to roll back many of the restrictions they had in place. However, the patchwork of rollbacks and differing approaches to live theatre has many arts administrators feeling stretched beyond reason.

While audiences may still be waiting a bit for the rest of their family to get vaccinated (particularly families with children), they are starting to make plans to see shows later this year - making now a great time to start marketing your productions.

With the UK only a few weeks away from their most recently proposed date of full capacity in theatres, a new variant has put those plans into limbo - and producers aren't happy about it. Stateside, more theatres continue to announce their season plans, and things are beginning to look a lot more solid than they did even two months ago.

As the calendar turns to June, we’re one step closer to Broadway reopening, fewer audience restrictions in the UK, and more theatre companies taking steps toward performing in the great outdoors. All of these are great signs for the industry, and increased arts funding are yet another sign that the days are starting to get a bit brighter.