SR Notebook: Links in the time of COVID-19
Y’all. In case you were watching Joe and Bernie’s staged reading of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple last night and missed this news, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now, to quote the Washington Post, “urging a nationwide halt to gatherings of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks, citing the risk of the coronavirus.”
That would take us to May 10. Mother’s Day.
Leaving aside the long list of shows that have closed early or canceled entirely in the last four days, a social distancing window this long—while absolutely necessary for the greater good—would affect or eliminate dozens more upcoming theater productions in Chicago. We’re looking at two months of lost productions, lost jobs, lost revenues. I can’t even begin to fathom how hard it could be for some companies to come back from this. And if you’re an actor who tends bar or waits tables between gigs? You’re doubly screwed for the next two weeks.
Since this situation also leaves me with basically nothing to review for several weeks, I’ve been thinking about how I can use this platform to keep theater in the conversation even as it’s largely off our stages for a while. And I want to tell stories about how theater, and the people who make and support it, are surviving the shutdown. I want to hear about and talk about the conversations that took place around canceling productions, about whether folks are still getting paid, about what this means for Actors’ Equity healthcare weeks. I want to know what happens to plays and playwrights that just had world premiere productions disappear. I want to hear about efforts to turn to digital, to streaming, to podcasting. I want to have hard conversations about what lies ahead.
And I want to hear from you, friends of the Rebellion, about what you’d like to see here. Who should I be talking to? Who will have a unique perspective? What angle might I miss if I’m not a teacher, or a scenic designer, or a front-of-house staffer, or a funder, or a Saint? I’ve got nothing but time on my hands to dig into all this—there are only so many batches of cookies I can stress-bake.
And now, the promised links:
I want to help spread the word about this lovely effort, put together in record time by an ad hoc committee of theater artists: The Chicago Artists Relief Fund.
I called in to Dean Richards’s Sunday Morning yesterday on WGN Radio to talk about the coronavirus outbreak’s effect on Chicago theater. (I also misunderstood a hastily given instruction from Dean’s producer during a commercial break—turns out they wanted me to avoid saying the title Teenage Dick on the radio, not explain it. Whoops.) You can listen to the segment here; I come on around the 46-minute mark.
This project is out of Toronto, but could well include participation from Chicago, and the name and concept are very good: The Social Distancing Festival, collecting digital materials around canceled productions.
Thanks for reading! This is the free edition of Storefront Rebellion, a newsletter about Chicago theater by Kris Vire. Send tips and feedback to kris@krisvire.com, and if you know someone you think would enjoy this newsletter, feel free to forward this to a friend.
The Odd Couple indeed. Hope SNL jumps on this brilliant idea. I was so looking forward to the spring theater season - guess the RSC won't make it to Chicago Shakes. Hope we don't have to wait another 25 years!