Virtual Triumphs in the Theatre Industry during COVID-19

Land Acknowledgment

        Before I dive in, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that the land I am currently occupying in central Virginia while writing this post was forcefully removed from the possession of the Manahoac people of the Monacan Nation, and the Patawomeck people of the Powhatan Confederacy by way of genocide in 1666. Descendants of the surviving members of the Patawomeck tribe still reside in the area today and continue to pass down the traditions and native language of their ancestors. For more information on the Patawomeck people, and to research what native people were forcefully removed from your locale, please visit native-land.ca. 

Virtual Triumphs in the Theatre Industry during COVID-19

        It’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has turned the theatre industry upside down. One of the big draws of theatre is that it is traditionally an in-person event, which of course is not the ideal situation during a pandemic. Although it’s a tough time to be an arts worker, the resiliency and innovation I’ve witnessed in the last several months from members of our community has been awe-inspiring. To create some positive from the devastation that has ravaged through our industry takes something we have spent the week discussing and researching for the Digital Internship Program…Leadership. A good leader should be willing and able to adapt, be empathic to the needs of their colleagues, and inspire those who work for them to think outside the box. That’s exactly what leaders in the arts have been tasked with doing these past six months, thinking outside the box. This week’s discussion on leadership made me think about the innovation in theatre that has occurred over the past six months driven by fearless leaders of arts organizations all over the world. I’ve been astounded and inspired by all the ways artists  have adapted to meet the restrictions COVID-19 has brought upon us, and today I’d like to share some of my favorite quarantine-time created services that provide their audiences with the thrills of theatre in this time of isolation. Just like the festivals DSF have produced (and will continue to produce, tune in in early December!), these organizations and individuals have found ways to carry out their artistic missions by adapting to a virtual form of performance, helping us fill the hole in our hearts that’s longing to be in a crowded theatre with dozens of other enthusiasts and far too little legroom between the seat infront of us. Here are 4 of my favorite virtual places I turn to when I’m in the mood for a performance:

“Soundstage” A Podcast by Playwrights Horizons

The first brilliant quarantine idea that I’ve come across is a podcast from Playwrights Horizons, an Off-Broadway theatre in New York that is known for producing new works. When their season was canceled, they continued producing shows by way of a podcast entitled “Soundstage”. Each episode is a new play or musical composition performed by actors. Playwrights is one of my favorite theatres to see shows at in New York, and I’m so glad they’ve continued to make new theatre accessible during this time. Click Here to listen to episodes from the first season.

P.S. There’s a set of episodes that are parts of an interactive play you can put on with another person in your own home! One person starts the episode entitled “Person 1” at the same time as another starts the episode “Person 2”, and there’s someone is in your ear telling you what do say and do!

 

The Shows Must Go On- Youtube Channel

If the audio-only method isn’t doing it for you… don’t fret! There are tons of services that are providing professionally recorded plays and musicals, one being the Youtube channel: “The Shows Must Go On”. This British based channel releases professionally taped shows or concerts of famed composer Andrew Lloyd Webber every Friday at 7pm BST, which are then available for 48 hours of streaming. Since April, they have been making Webber fans rejoice weekly with beautifully captured productions. Click here to check out their channel.

 

St. Ann’s Warehouse Streaming Service

The Brooklyn-based theatre St. Ann’s Warehouse has started a streaming service, and during the month of October they are streaming the three, all-female cast, productions of the “Donmar Warehouse Shakespeare Trilogy”. Their website notes that these productions, directed by Phyllida Lloyd, were “Shot in front of a live audience in London at the Donmar Warehouse King’s Cross in December 2016, the films were edited to include separately shot, hand-held and GoPro footage”. These groundbreaking Shakespeare adaptations promise to be an intriguing watch. Click here to stream Julius Caesar (October 9th-15th), Henry IV (October 16th-22nd), and The Tempest (October 23rd-29th) for free.

 

The Metropolitan Opera – Nightly Livestreams

Finally, If you’re missing the glitz and glamour of a night at the opera, you should check out the Met’s nightly live streams from their collection of beautifully filmed operas. Each stream starts at 7:30 pm EST and is then available for 23 hours after on the Met’s website. Some of the most luscious scores in operatic history are just a couple clicks away every night! Click here for links to these free live streams.

 

Organizations all over the world have turned to their leaders to push them through the troubles of this pandemic, and they have continued to create and showcase theatre in ways that inspire me to challenge myself as a creative. I’m looking forward to working with the leaders at Davis Shakespeare Festival and my fellow interns to create theatre in a way I never could have imagined I would be doing at the start of this year. The future of the theatre industry may seem foggy, but we’ve survived plagues before! It’s theorized that Shakespeare wrote King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra during an outbreak of the Black Plague, and American theaters all over the country were shut down during the 1918 flu pandemic only to open up a year later, and for the theatre industry to flourish in the 1920s. Somewhere out there, leaders in the industry are creating new ways to conceive and produce theatre, and Jeremy O. Harris, Jocelyn Bioh, Sarah DeLappe, and maybe YOU are writing the plays that will be revered for centuries to come, just like our dear friend Shakespeare’s are. If the past six months are any indication, whenever we return to “normal”, theatre will be more innovative and imaginative than ever before. 

 

Andrew Kolar

He/Him

DSF Digital Internship Participant

Wagner College Theatre ’22