Innovative and Committed: Theatre in the Quarantine Days

By Nick Glavan

I miss seeing live theatre. It’s something that can’t be matched by a recorded performance or edited films or tv shows. Being in a space where real humans have poured hours of their time into rehearsing and memorizing 2-hour sequences of storytelling, and being there as they perform it with the energy of an audience reacting…there’s no perfect substitute.
However, innovators across the world have been finding ways to bring COVID-safe alternatives to life amidst these “unprecedented times.” Each means of producing and performing through/around restrictions has carved out a niche experience that never existed(to my knowledge) before. All while keeping every actor, crew member, and audience member safe and secure.
So while I am eager to return to a theatre and physically settle in for a show, I wanted to reflect on some of the amazing ways theatrical artists have adapted their livelihood in the face of the virus, and extract lessons we can all apply to our own innovation journeys.

When COVID shut down in-person gatherings, industries like live performance were among those hit the hardest. At the start of 2020, I was patronizing 3 or 4 community theatre performances each month. I can remember the weekly ritual of consulting the BEST Northeast Ohio theatre resource, The Cleveland Stage Alliance, skimming their calendar of upcoming shows, and planning which new local or unfamiliar title I would go and see the following weekend. By mid-March, show after show was cancelling or rescheduling TBA, and for a short while, theatre on nearly every level, went dark; but artists persist.     
After weeks of secluding and realizing this was not going to be a short, “two-weeks isolation and return to normal,” artists and performers got the ball rolling again. The first signs of this renewed commitment to performing in quarantine were Zoom-enabled script readings, often works that were newly written within the lockdown period, occurring on a near weekly basis. Other artists were self-taping vocal performances and giving solo concerts. A friend of mine would sit at his keyboard and broadcast his accompaniment to facilitate a karaoke/sing-a-long on Facebook live.    
Then, artists innovated. As more performers and producers joined forces, new ways of enjoying rehearsed performances began to pop up. Sitting outdoors, in socially distanced quarantine-bubble pods, with six feet of elbow room in every direction and masks required, Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens hosted the Ohio Shakespeare Festival’s …Complete Works (Abridged) in July. At Blank Canvas Theatre in Cleveland, a drive-in concert performance for a packed parking lot was made possible by linking the audio to a radio broadcast system, and each vocalist having an isolated performance cubby in front of a full length window on the third story of the building. All of which was punctuated by projection lighting and car horn honks in lieu of applause. (All audience members were inside their cars with the windows rolled up to avoid any risk of spreading, after all).

Today, artists are still creating and supporting. My weekly routine of checking Cleveland Stage Alliance continues, and now, I get to support community theatres who have adapted to produce fully staged, costumed, underscored pieces in a virtual format. Some have even overcome the technical complexities to still perform LIVE, navigating video calls and Wi-Fi variability. Some clever entrepreneurs created online platforms that community theatres can hire in order to carry out the recording or broadcasting of their performances to audiences safely quarantining at home, a concept that was rarely used until the pandemic. This streaming alternative is likely to continue beyond the lockdown and continue to provide performance opportunities to home-bound audiences. And these examples are just from our local community. Across the globe, performers and creators have shifted their work to adapt to the restricted environment.
The overlap of artist and entrepreneur is clear. Both use creativity and persistence to overcome obstacles. Both put in an incredible amount of effort to create a joyful experience for their customers. And both have been forced to adapt in the face of challenges in the past year. In fact, it's weird to say both since every artist I know has been an entrepreneur, and every entrepreneur has been an artist in their own way.

So, what should we take away from all this? Well, I will be setting a goal for myself to support small businesses a certain number of times per month, in the same way I do with supporting community theatre. I am going to think creatively when facing problems or restrictions, and hopefully I’ll find a new way around or through the challenge. And I’m going to collaborate with others and keep pushing forward, knowing there’s always the chance of creating an entirely new experience to save the day.