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‘794,880 minutes’: How do you measure the COVID-19 Broadway shutdown?

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‘794,880 minutes’: How do you measure the COVID-19 Broadway shutdown?

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Content ‘794,880 MINUTES’:
HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE COVID-19 BROADWAY SHUTDOWN?
by
Jessica Doherty
A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC ANNENBERG
SCHOOL FOR COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM (THE ARTS)
May 2022
Copyright 2022 Jessica Doherty
Table of Contents Page Number
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………...…iii
Text of Project…...………………………………...………………………………………………2
Bibliography………….…………………………………………………………………….……31
ii
Abstract
As a theater artist myself, I witnessed the firsthand effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on
my peers still working in the industry. Friends, mentors, and former collaborators were suddenly
out of work, prevented from practicing one of the things that brings them the most joy. Much of
the initial news coverage of the pandemic focused on numbers—seven-day average case
numbers, daily death numbers, numbers of American individuals applying for unemployment,
and the economic impact of nationwide “lockdown” orders. There was not much to be said,
however, about the emotional toll of the pandemic, on individuals losing their jobs, passion, and
sense of purpose for the foreseeable future.
This project explores the personal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on theater artists
working on Broadway and in other theater productions in the United States. Through interviews
with theater professionals, scholars, and activists, this project explores the emotional and
financial toll of the pandemic on the theater industry at large during the COVID-19 pandemic.
These interviews were conducted over a year and a half during many different periods of the
pandemic. Each of the selected six personal narratives connects to a larger current event issue
from the time of their interview—be it the bureaucratic issues of docking cruise ships during the
start of the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter and Scott Rudin protests, or the reopening of
Broadway theaters after state and city emergency orders that prevented live performance venues
from operating. The selected narratives are a fraction of the interviews conducted throughout the
process of this piece and were chosen specifically because of their connections to relevant
current events that occurred during the reporting period. Their stories humanize these events and
reveal the human cost of the pandemic on the theater industry and artists beyond health concerns
and economic impact.
iii
Text of Project
‘794,880 minutes’
How Do You Measure the COVID-19 Broadway Shutdown?
By Jessica Doherty
Broadway theaters ceased operations on March 12, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic
(Paulson 2020). What was supposed to be a 32-day pause turned into a 552-day hiatus—the
longest consecutive shutdown in Broadway history (Paulson 2021).
Broadway is a huge source of revenue for New York City. The 2018-2019 season brought $14.7
billion in revenue to the city and provided nearly 100,000 full-time jobs, according to New York
Senator Chuck Schumer (Evans and Eyewitness News ABC7 2020).
But what were those 100,000 Broadway theater employees, and others like them nationwide, to
do when they couldn’t work for over a year? Beyond unemployment, what is it like to lose your
industry, your passion, a part of your sense of being, for 552 days?
Theatre is a famously resilient art form, often occurring despite government censorship
(Tamarchenko 1980, 23-28) and with the sparest of resources (there are many plays about it)
(Washburn 2013) (V ogel 2018). Melinda Finberg, an Associate Professor of Theater Practice at
the University of Southern California, said history can put the pandemic into perspective (2020).
During the Black Plague in the 1600s, some theaters stayed open, but many closed as much of
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the city went under a form of what we would consider a “lockdown.” Shakespeare himself left
the city for Stratford-upon-Avon, writing King Lear during his time there (Finberg 2020).
But the most applicable historical parallel may be the 1918 Flu outbreak, which did not shut
down Broadway (Canning 2020). While theaters closed for labor strikes and Actors’ Equity
Association negotiations, Broadway was otherwise operational (Actors' Equity Association,
n.d.). Audiences declined briefly and smaller, regional theaters closed temporarily, but picked up
and reopened normally once cases subsided (Finberg 2020).
“Granted, that was a time period where you didn’t have as many [entertainment] options as we
do right now. But people would take big risks to go to the theater,” Finberg said (2020).
But during the current pandemic, theater was up against an unprecedented challenger—not only
a raging pandemic, but state (“New York State Department of Health: Novel Coronavirus
(COVID-19)”, n.d.) and city (New York City, n.d.) health regulations that prevented large, indoor
gatherings. A lack of federal assistance (“COVID-19”, n.d.), combined with pre-existing
socio-economic barriers to entry (Ates 2017), already caused challenges for individuals in the
theater industry before the pandemic. A 2021 report by the Actors’ Equity Association found that
just 9.4% of performing arts projects were required to pay their artists a living wage
pre-pandemic (Actors’ Equity Association 2021).
Economically, experts have compared the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the Great
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Recession in 2008 and the Great Depression in the 1930s (Kochhar 2020), although some studies
argue that the latter comparison is only applicable to the initial impact of the COVID-19
pandemic and not its prolonged effects (Wheelock 2020). Unemployment in April 2020 reached
14.7%, the highest rate since the Great Depression (Bayly 2020). A Columbia University study
found that the nationwide monthly poverty rate also rose to 16.7% in September 2020 (Huq
2020).
In the 1930s, the performing arts had federal support during the national economic crisis. The
Federal Theatre Project paid actors and artists to continue their careers. At its height, the project
employed nearly 13,000 artists (Becker et al. 2002).
More than eight decades later, the industry hoped for federal assistance for the arts again. The
CARES Act passed on March 27, 2020, which provided over $2 trillion in federal assistance to
individuals and businesses impacted by the pandemic—including actors and theater artists—and
$1200 stimulus checks to individuals (“Covid-19 Economic Relief | US Department of the
Treasury” 2020). But it expired on December 26, 2021 (Picchi 2020). The Heroes Act was
proposed in the spring of 2020, hoping to provide $10 billion to independent live venue
operators. But that bill didn’t pass until September 2020 (House Democrats 2020).
There were three rounds of national stimulus checks during the pandemic (Peter G. Peterson
Foundation 2021), as well as expanded unemployment benefits (Employment and Training
Administration 2020). The latter, however, ended on September 4, 2021 (Hernandez 2021), just
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as some Broadway shows were starting to reopen.
Uncertainties over healthcare coverage, a familiar struggle for many in the United States,
deepened during Broadway’s long dark period. Due to financial strain from the pandemic, actors
and stagehands needed to work for sixteen weeks to qualify for six months of coverage after
January 1, 2021 (Equity-League Benefit Funds 2020)—a virtual impossibility given the
shutdown (Paulson 2021).
Throughout the pandemic, artists performed plays and musicals over Zoom or broadcast them
over YouTube Live, often on a community level because issues between labor unions make it
challenging on a professional level. Actors in Broadway shows are often represented by both the
Actors’ Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild. But the two unions debate their roles as
more artists produce hybrid shows. The Actors’ Equity Association fears that, by placing the
responsibility for actors with the Screen Actors Guild, actors will have an even harder time
qualifying for their union benefits (Sakoui 2020).
If performers want to record a live performance without an audience to then broadcast, it could
also prove difficult. Licensing and copyright issues stand in the way of filming many live
productions, even on Broadway. Playwrights and composers retain the exclusive right to decide
if a show is allowed to be recorded in any way. In certain instances, permissions to record a
production are obtained separately from the license of the show for live performances (“Do's and
Don'ts of Licensing | Music Theatre International”, n.d.).
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But with permission, there are ways to be able to film theatrical productions. Diana: The Musical
filmed its production for a Netflix release (McPhee 2020). There is also an online Broadway
streaming service, Broadway HD, that features recordings of many recent productions
(BroadwayHD, n.d.). The New York Public Library also has the Theatre on Film and Tape
Archive, which has many professional productions preserved for future viewing for archival and
research purposes (“Theatre on Film and Tape Archive”, n.d.).
As COVID-19 cases began to decline nationwide in the summer of 2021 (The New York Times
2020), Broadway shows began planning their return to in-person productions. After returning to
rehearsals in the summer and early fall of 2021, Broadway theaters began to reopen to in-person
audiences starting September 2021 (Paulson 2021).
But the rise of the Omicron COVID-19 variant in December 2021 began to thwart those plans.
New York City reported a record 15,425 cases of COVID-19 on December 19, 2021—a number
unseen since the beginning of the pandemic. By January 8, 2022, that number had jumped to
47,591 (The New York Times 2020).
Many Broadway shows canceled performances due to breakthrough cases. By the end of
December 2021, roughly 16 shows performed out of the 33 shows technically open (Paulson
2021).
Theaters Off-Broadway that were still open, like The Public, began requiring both proof of full
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vaccination, including a booster, and a negative test result (The Public Theater 2022).
And even after reopening, other shows cut their runs short. Many shows near Broadway, from
the Rockettes at Radio City to Morning Sun at Manhattan Theatre Club canceled the remainder
of their runs that were initially scheduled through the holiday season (Harms 2021) (Stevens and
Paulson 2021). Seven Broadway shows closed early according to the New York Times (Paulson
2021): Dana H., Is This A Room, Waitress, Diana: The Musical, Jagged Little Pill, Chicken &
Biscuits, and Thoughts Of A Colored Man have all closed for the foreseeable future due to the
rise in cases. Other shows like Ain’t Too Proud also ended their runs at this time (Paulson 2021).
For shows that remained open, attendance has drastically decreased. The Broadway League said
that Broadway shows brought in only $22.5 million in ticket sales for the week before Christmas,
compared to $40.1 million that same week in 2019 (Paulson 2021). Casts have also been
impacted by breakthrough cases, resulting in many performances with swings and understudies
covering a variety of roles (Soloski 2021).
Read on for the stories of six individual theater artists during different points of the pandemic
and how this time period shaped their future (or lack thereof) in the performing arts industry.
Teale Dvornik
Teale Dvornik lives for theater. The millennial Broadway costumer dedicates her Instagram and
blog to anecdotes of her experiences and photos of herself in sparkly outfits in front of the
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ever-changing marquees of Times Square with tidbits of theatrical history. She takes her
audience backstage at Wicked: The Musical, making sure Glinda’s iconic, glittery bubble dress
looks flawless eight nights a week. Under the name The Backstage Blonde, she amassed an
online following of over 28,000 thespians, who follow her glitzy life as a young, New York City
resident.
“i’ve gone through all five stages of grief but it still hurts,” read the caption of The Backstage
Blonde’s Instagram post on Sept. 12, 2020. “our untouchable titan industry evaporated in an
afternoon” (Dvornik 2020).
As Broadway theaters closed during the pandemic, the woman behind the blog discovered what
life is like when the curtain doesn’t rise.
Dvornik always dreamed of moving to New York City. As much as she is a New Yorker, she is a
Southern girl at heart. She was born and raised in Clearwater, Florida, and attended Samford
University in Alabama (Dvornik 2020). Beyond the flashy facade of her social media is a
down-to-earth girl. She’s characteristically warm and friendly in a sweet, Southern way. As much
as she mastered the “Instagram pout,” she looks the most natural with a cheery smile on her face.
Many of her Southern friends went on to get married after college and start families.
“I always knew that just wasn’t for me,” Dvornik said (Dvornik 2020).
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Dvornik initially wanted to work in fashion, but she grew up attending regional and touring
musicals as a child, and, after working in the costume department for her college production of
Richard the Third, she set her sights on theater instead. This passion was solidified after seeing
the Broadway production of Next to Normal in 2009 (Dvornik 2020).
“I was sitting in the front row of the Booth Theater, watching Alice Ripley spit on me,” she
laughed. “But that was the moment where I was like, I want to work on Broadway and help
create magic this powerful for other people to experience” (Dvornik 2020).
She and her best friend moved to New York City in 2014. Her first substantial job was as a
dresser for The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. After gigs at summer stock theaters and on a
cruise ship, she landed a job in the costume department at Wicked: the Musical. She washes and
mends costumes, assists actors with changes throughout the show, and ensures each performer
looks as the costume designer intended each and every night (Dvornik 2020).
Before the pandemic, Dvornik lived in Hell’s Kitchen. When her lease ended in September 2020,
she had to decide whether or not she’d stay in the city or move back home. On one hand, New
York City is “her favorite place in the world,” but the uncertainty of Broadway’s return made it
impractical to stay. On the other hand, she does not have a strong sense of community back home
(Dvornik 2020).
Her community was Broadway. It was where Dvornik felt the most at home. “For those of us
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who actually work there, it feels like a very small college campus,” Dvornik said. “There’s
something comforting knowing that...your friends are rehearsing in that theater...or I’d be
walking down Eighth or Ninth Avenue and run into several people I knew, no matter what time
of day” (Dvornik 2020).
For her, she said it was like the opening sequence of Beauty and the Beast, where Belle prances
about the town square, saying hello to everyone she meets (Dvornik 2020).
Leaving that community behind left a lonely longing inside her for interpersonal connection. “I
just figured by this point in my life, I would be settled and have a forever home. [But] I don’t and
I didn’t before, but I had my career,” Dvornik said with a tinge of sadness. “Sure, everyone’s
been impacted, but my community left,” Dvornik said. “Everyone’s gone [and] I didn’t get to say
goodbye” (Dvornik 2020).
Across the pond, there was a glimmer of hope. Six West End theaters in London, operated by
Niamax, announced (ironically six months after their last performances) that they would reopen
in October 2020. They planned to have limited runs and smaller audiences who were required to
wear masks (McHenry 2020).
Dvornik was able to stay in the United Kingdom for up to six months as a tourist without a visa.
So she hopped on a plane and went. “Honestly, rent is the same over there, so I thought why not
go and create West End content for a month?” (Dvornik 2020).
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She hoped to work on one of these limited runs or another production down the line, posting new
content to social media in the meanwhile.
Dvornik attended Adam Kay’s This Is Going to Hurt on its public reopening night, October 23,
2020. (The first performance was only for National Health Service workers). It was her first time
in a theater since March 2020 (Dvornik 2020).
“I had a hard time focusing because I was overcome with emotion hearing the audience laugh
and sing together,” Dvornik said. “Anyone who has ever sat in that sacred space gets that there’s
nothing like it” (Dvornik 2020).
Sadly, that joy was short-lived. Due to England’s national restrictions, these theaters closed once
more until at least December 2, 2020 (Wood 2020). The West End eventually returned to
in-person performances in May 2021 (Thomas 2021).
Dvornik stayed at home in her new London flat, eagerly awaiting “Lockdown 2.0” to subside.
But despite the lockdown, she was able to walk around and create social media posts to pass the
time while theaters remained closed (Dvornik 2020).
Dvornik felt lost as she recast herself outside of her job on Broadway, but her work as a blogger
and influencer helped her with additional income and opportunities (Dvornik 2020).
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Her online content is aesthetically cohesive, wrapped in peppy millennial pink and sparkle,
appealing to young theater fans. Her long, platinum blonde hair drapes stylishly over her face or
flounces behind her in photos, in which she is usually donning sunglasses that hide her light
green eyes.
Dvornik created merchandise featuring quippy graphic t-shirts of Broadway references melded
with popular, millennial aesthetics. She recently joined Patreon (Patreon, n.d.) and Broadway
Plus (Broadway Plus, n.d.), which allows fans to have one-on-one meet and greets or Q&A
sessions with her and other Broadway professionals about their industry experiences. She adds
all of her subscribers to her Close Friends Instagram Story and posts additional personal and
unfiltered content there.
Dvornik finally returned to New York in 2021. She’s still working at Wicked: The Musical,
posting photos and stories that are almost fully reminiscent of her time backstage before the
pandemic. But she also found a new stream of income—Broadway walking tours. Much of her
online posts during the pandemic featured Broadway history and fun facts, which she now shares
on guided walks around Times Square. And, of course, she is still posting. In the wake of the
Omicron variant, she includes a list of what Broadway shows are open that day (Dvornik 2021).
After New Year’s, she posted a collection of photos from her years working on Broadway,
standing in front of the neon sign for the ball drop. She’s smiling in her 2019 shot, and in one of
her 2020 shots as well. 2021 was replaced by the sign of Hamilton that states its eventual return.
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But for 2022, Dvornik stands tall in front of the illuminated New Year’s sign once again, walking
forward and looking stoically away (Dvornik 2021).
Nicholas Edwards
“It was supposed to all be this crazy, amazing journey,” said Nicholas Edwards (Edwards 2020).
On March 12, 2020, Edwards went to the New Amsterdam Theater to sign a contract to play
Kristoff—his first principal role on Broadway—in Frozen: The Musical. He previously
performed in the show as an ensemble member.
But as Broadway went dark, so did Edwards’ future plans. His contract was revoked and, as the
closure endured, Frozen: The Musical announced that it would not return (Paulson 2020).
After he lost his Frozen contract, Edwards was cast as Jesus in a production of Godspell at the
Berkshire Theater Group. It was the first equity-approved show to return since the start of the
pandemic. The production took place outside in Western Massachusetts during the summer of
2020 and was permitted by Actors’ Equity Association due to a low level of COVID-19
transmission in the area (Paulson 2020).
Edwards described the production as “experimental,” a learning process as to what protocols are
required for a production to happen safely. Edwards not only led the production as an actor, but
also served as the equity deputy, working with the stage manager to ensure everything was up to
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code (Edwards 2020).
The director, Alan Filderman, set Godspell in modern, pandemic times. The actors performed
outside in plexiglass aisles, donning face shields, maintaining distance on stage, and miming
contact (Paulson 2020).
“The cool thing about theater is it’s supposed to reflect true life,” Edwards said. “We’re doing
gospel in 2020, during the pandemic, during the Black Lives Matter movement...It’s not so
different from what [the audience] see[s] every day, you know? We’re living in it” (Edwards
2020).
He added that it was clear that the rehearsal room was a safe space to talk about any issues or
discomforts the cast and crew faced. “Now’s the time to really listen and I think people are being
honest and saying they don’t know what to do or how to be better,” Edwards said (Edwards
2020).
It made sense that they chose Edwards not only for the role of Jesus, but as the leader of
pandemic protocols for the cast. His voice is strong and calm, and he has a comfortable and
friendly presence.
The show itself was spiritual, but Edwards felt the experience of putting the production up was
also, in a sense, holy (Edwards 2020).
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“We would come together before each show and do a group prayer to remind ourselves…to take
a moment and ground yourself and remind yourself while you’re there,” Edwards said (Edwards
2020).
The curtain rose and an audience followed. Edwards said that each night the outdoor house was
mostly at capacity—75 people. Later in the run, due to rising cases in the area, the audience was
reduced to 50 people (Edwards 2020). But despite the small audiences, it still had a tangible
impact—a charitable couple even donated $2 million to the Berkshire Theater Company after
seeing the show (Paulson 2020).
As equity deputy, Edwards was responsible for working with the stage manager and ensuring
that the production’s protocols were up to code (Edwards 2020).
“It was a lot of panic and anxiety, but we got through it together,” he said (Edwards 2020).
Josh Lozier
On the heels of his graduation from the University of Southern California’s theater program in
2019, Josh Lozier spent the beginning of 2020 singing and sailing across the seas as a performer
on Disney’s Cruise Lines (Lozier 2020).
“Every day was a new adventure,” he said, beaming. “And when you were working, you pretty
much forgot that you were on a giant metal tank in the middle of the ocean” (Lozier 2020).
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That “giant metal tank” housed around 2,700 guests each five-day trip, which was one of the
smaller Disney cruises in operation (Lozier 2020).
Lozier is seemingly made for Disney—a Midwestern boy with an infectious smile, chiseled
features, blond hair, and blue eyes. He has a loud, short laugh and does not shy away from
vibrant reactions during conversations.
“It’s crazy to think about in this COVID world because we were in such close proximity with
thousands of strangers every day,” Lozier reflected (Lozier 2020).
But, by the first week of March 2020, Lozier said about a third of the cruise guests canceled or
did not show up. The week after, guests were no longer permitted to board the cruise. But the
ships kept sailing—and the performers kept performing (Lozier 2020).
Lozier described these as ghost cruises—the ship would run its course without any guests while
actors ran performances and rehearsed to meet their weekly pay rate. They anticipated
welcoming guests again by April 2020 (Lozier 2020).
“What was really sweet about the ghost cruises is that a lot of the other crew members on
board…were able to come see the shows during the day,” Lozier said. “But other than that, we
were all like, ‘Please, can we not run this for, like, the 50
th
time this week?’” (Lozier 2020).
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After a two-week quarantine at sea, the ship docked in Cape Canaveral, Florida. But the crew
could not go home right away. United States citizens were able to leave in the middle of April
2020, while international crew members were stuck aboard the docked ship until June (Lozier
2020).
“I really liked this cruise ship gig. It was tons of fun, I was happy with my pay and I was hoping
to continue doing it,” Lozier said. “COVID FOOLED ME! [sic] I was hoodwinked, because it
just absolutely decimated entertainment and then I’m spending the summer in L.A. like, ‘What
the fudge?’” (Lozier 2020).
While spending the summer on land, Lozier’s passion for current affairs grew. He began to
describe his frustrations with the Trump administration—healthcare discrimination and
LGBTQIA+ rights—before pausing to ask if he was allowed to swear (Lozier 2020).
“I was like, I’m gonna go to fucking law school, I’m gonna be a fucking lawyer,” Lozier
passionately exclaimed. “I was like, [performing] is cool and really fun, but I gotta do something
else for a bit” (Lozier 2020).
So Lozier docked himself back home in Ohio with his parents to save money and study for law
school. He finds there are similarities between the law and theater, most notably in the critical
reading and interpersonal skills he developed as an actor (Lozier 2020).
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He is now entering 2L at Emory University in Georgia. In his Instagram bio, he refers to himself
as a “retired actor” (@joshdonnyloz, n.d.).
Cruises resumed in 2021, however, the CDC advised Americans in December 2021 to avoid
cruises at all costs in the wake of the Omicron variant (Kimball and Mody 2021). But at the start
of January 2022, the CDC’s guidance for cruise ships established in October 2020 expired,
rendering all of their health and safety guidance as voluntary (Kimball and Mody 2021).
Nattalyee Randall
Nattalyee Randall and Courtney Daniels were fed up with Broadway.
“We were unemployed, quote-unquote Black women,” Randall said. “We’re fed up with our
union. They’re not helping us, they’re not seeing how they’re hurting people” (Randall 2021).
With the popularity of productions like Hamilton (Miranda and McCarter 2016) and Slave Play
(Harris 2019) and national conversations sparked by the death of George Floyd and the Black
Lives Matter protests that followed in May 2020 (Patel 2020), the theater industry at large faced
a racial reckoning while on pause. These tensions persist even with the pressing issues of the
pandemic.
On June 8, 2020, a collective of BIPOC theater artists began circulating a petition entitled, Dear
White American Theater, which received 50,000 signatures within 24 hours (We See You White
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American Theater 2020). The organization is now advocating for actionable change in the
industry. Their demands are a 31-page living document, seeking changes in hiring practices,
economic investment and representation across many parts of the industry (Becker et al. 2002).
These conversations were revitalized a little less than a year later, when The Hollywood Reporter
ran a story on the abuses of Broadway producer Scott Rudin on April 7, 2021 (Siegel 2021).
Randall, along with her friend Daniels, made a flier for a protest against these many conflating
issues in the Broadway community, expecting, “maybe twenty, thirty people.” But by the next
day, their flier had over 1,000 shares on social media (Randall 2021).
“I was like, ‘Oh, wait a minute, this may be something bigger than we were thinking,’” Randall
recalled (Randall 2021).
On April 22, 2021, Broadway community members and allies took to the streets of New York
City demanding systemic change from not only the Broadway League, but Actors’ Equity
Association and individual attitudes throughout the industry towards artists of color as well as
trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming artists. Despite the industry-wide pause, the protest
was a reminder that the community was still very much alive, making local and national news
(Randall 2021).
“I got to see so many of my friends I hadn’t seen since COVID started, so it was a huge
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reunion,” Randall said. “It was such a joyous moment to be with my people, and for all of us to
have that same anger, that same resolution, and to stand together as a community. But we also
have videos of us dancing and singing alongside protesting and marching—so it wasn’t just all
anger, there were some fun times” (Randall 2021).
And it wasn’t just friends and close peers—big-name Broadway stars like Eden Espinosa and
Karen Olivo showed up to the protest and showed solidarity on social media (McPhee 2021).
After the protest, Randall and Daniels began crafting demands, consulting many different
members of the theater industry (Randall 2021).
“We consulted with other communities, the trans community, the disabled community,
everybody, to see what they would want their demands to be, too,” Randall said (Randall 2021).
One immediate demand was for Rudin’s resignation from The Broadway League. Shortly after
the protests, Rudin was removed from his positions on Broadway and national tour productions
(Shafer and Wallenstein 2021).
“Rudin is a figurehead,” she said. “A marquee issue to what is underneath” (Randall 2021).
Her work for the Broadway community did not stop after the protest. Over 500 Actor’s Equity
Union members worked together to create the Black Theatre Matters bill, compiled by Davon
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Williams, with 12 demands for the Actor’s Equity Association, which was passed by union
leaders shortly after (Williams 2021). The Broadway League created and appointed a director of
equity, diversity and inclusion and began working with grassroots organizations from different
marginalized communities (Actors' Equity Association 2021).
Randall and Daniels also hosted Instagram Live conversations, sometimes alone or with other
guests, to have conversations with members of the Broadway community, brainstorm action
items and demands, and potential solutions. They would also update viewers on the status of
proposed solutions, like the Black Theatre Matters bill, or communications with organizations
(Randall 2021).
While her work occurred during the pandemic, Randall was keen to clarify that COVID-19
concerns and racial injustice are two separate issues (Randall 2021).
“People have tried to clump it all together, and you can’t clump it all together,” Randall said.
“Yes, we want safety, that’s part of it, but I can’t worry about COVID before I fix the racism,
abuse, and harassment” (Randall 2021).
Randall was experienced in organizing against police brutality and racial justice. At the time of
the protest, she was also working on a documentary about Black runners in the wake of the
murder of Ahamad Aubrey in Georgia. She stepped back from her work with the Broadway
community in the summer of 2021 to finish that documentary (Randall 2021).
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But other organizations and individuals have continued. Broadway for Racial Justice, an
organization that spoke at the March on Broadway protest, began looking ahead with a
(Re)opening guide for theaters post-pandemic to be more equitable, accessible, and accepting as
they reopen (Broadway for Racial Justice 2021).
“We’re not doing this for us, but for the generations behind us,” Randall said. “I hope I get to
reap the benefits, but if we can start breaking down the system, we can rebuild it” (Randall
2021).
Laura Renee Mehl
Laura Renee Mehl was supposed to leave for a production of Out of the Blue One Starry Night in
China in March 2020. She was already performing regularly in an immersive production of The
Polar Express, which took place on a moving train (Mehl 2021).
“Going to tour China and be able to perform is something that I never thought that I would get to
do,” Mehl said. “I’m still hoping that it will happen” (Mehl 2021).
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the production did not begin as planned. Mehl continues to receive
emails about the project, with hopes that it will resume in 2022 (Mehl 2021).
With stranded in-laws staying with her and her husband in New York City, she packed up two
weeks’ worth of things and rented a car to bring them back home to Tennessee. What she
anticipated would be a brief quarantine and vacation turned into a four month stay. The couple
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returned to New York in July to pack up their belongings and put them into a storage unit since
their apartment’s lease was up. They lived in Tennessee again until November, when they moved
into a house in New Jersey (Mehl 2021).
Mehl’s husband, Jonathan, lost his contract to teach weekly classes at Marymount Manhattan
College. Mehl was able to continue her voice instruction lessons online, and, throughout the
pandemic, she starred in four online productions (Mehl 2021).
“[It] was really fun and really cute, but not quite the same, as hard as we tried,” Mehl said. “We
tried to make something beautiful, it just doesn’t feel the same as whenever you actually have an
audience and you get to have that response” (Mehl 2021).
Some of the online productions were prerecorded and streamed, while others were broadcast live
over Zoom. She preferred the prerecorded productions to live streamed ones, despite the fact that
they, “take out all the stuff we love about theater…the honest response to creating something
from an audience” (Mehl 2021).
By March 2021, Mehl began auditioning again for in-person work. She saw a listing on Actor’s
Access, a popular job listing site for actors, for the Off-Broadway production of The Office
Musical Parody. She had auditioned for the production three years prior, laughing as she recalled
it as, “the worst audition I ever had in my life.” This time, she went in “like a goofball” and
landed the iconic role of Pam (Mehl 2021).
22
A week after the audition, the cast began rehearsing. By the end of March and early April 2021,
the cast was welcoming audiences to the theater. It was one of the first theaters in the Times
Square area to welcome in-person audiences again (Mehl 2021). In contrast, Broadway houses
did not welcome audiences back into their venues until nearly six months later (Paulson 2021).
Mehl read some “really nasty posts” about those who chose to participate in in-person
performances that were resuming at that point in the pandemic. But Mehl said there were many
different protocols in place. She was fully vaccinated by the start of rehearsals, as were her
castmates and the production’s crew. Everyone wore masks when offstage, got tested regularly,
and maintained physical distance. The venue also added an air filtration system (Mehl 2021).
“Is it really wrong, because if I feel safe and the audience feels safe enough to come, someone
has to do it [before] it is acceptable, at some point we have to be brave and we have to try to
create the art form that we love so much, regardless of everything going on in the world,” Mehl
said (Mehl 2021).
After a “weird and scary” first week, Mehl said she and the cast quelled their anxieties (Mehl
2021).
The show did eventually have a breakthrough COVID-19 case a few months in, as the Delta
variant became a more prominent strain (Anthes 2021). The cast member was only sick for a few
days, and no other members of the show tested positive (Mehl 2021).
23
Mehl had personal protocols with her castmate playing Jim. The director cut one of the three
kisses in the production to limit their contact, and the two were transparent to each other about
when they were feeling unwell so they could find contactless alternatives (Mehl 2021).
She’s ultimately grateful for the experience the show has provided audiences and actors alike.
“People need to have that ability to have a little bit of joy, even if it’s just laughing at a really
goofy parody of a TV show that they love,” Mehl said (Mehl 2021).
Mehl sustains her career in theater not just as a performer, but also as an educator. She began
teaching voice production and speech at the New York American Musical and Dramatic
Academy in the spring of 2021 (American Musical and Dramatic Academy, n.d.). She was
involved in conversations about what the fall semester of classes would be like after the vaccine
roll-out. But the main issue is that she was teaching children under 12, who were, at the time,
unable to be vaccinated. All staff and students were required to be tested and take part in daily
check-ins before entering the building. Mehl also taught at Broadway Artists Alliance, a
short-term children’s theater training camp. Students there were assigned a chair to carry around
for the day and would arrange their seats in the same formation in each class in order to contact
trace potential cases or exposure (Mehl 2021).
“It’s been hard to be helping kids navigate this hard, scary time while you’re also like, ‘I’m an
adult and I don’t know how to navigate this hard, scary time,” she said (Mehl 2021).
24
Even before the pandemic, Mehl’s faith in pursuing a life in the performing arts was shaken.
Right before the coronavirus appeared, she auditioned for the national tour of Hairspray. “I got
there at 3 a.m. and I was number 200,” Mehl said. She recalled how management had to shut the
elevators down at the studio, because so many people tried to cram their way inside and were
breaking fire code. It exemplified the colloquial term of a “cattle call” audition, the way actors
were lined around the room waiting for their turn to be briefly seen (Mehl 2021).
“That was really a perspective shift for me, where I was like, I’m in a room cattle lining for
someone to pay attention to us,” Mehl said. “The fact that that is where our industry is, that we
are at a point where you have to show up at 3 a.m. in order to be number 200 on a list to maybe
be seen at three o’clock in the afternoon when your voice is fried because you’ve been up since
two” (Mehl 2021).
But after so much time away during the pandemic, Mehl realized these struggles are well worth
the reward. “When I wasn’t doing [theater], I was depressed. I was a mess. There was a hole and
I knew I couldn’t do something else because everything else that I tried didn’t fill that hole,” she
said (Mehl 2021).
Quinn Blades
“I want you to see the show one more time,” director John Tiffany told Quinn Blades. “Because
once you’re in it, you’re in it, and you’re never going to see it again” (Blades 2022).
25
Little did they know, that evening’s performance of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child would
be its unofficial closing night for the foreseeable future (Blades 2022).
The next day, Blades was in the final tech dress rehearsal, nearing the final act of the show.
Actors backstage during lunch mumbled to each other and scrolled through the news about the
first confirmed COVID-19 case in New York City reported earlier in the week. Blades looked up
from his phone when he heard an announcement over the intercom calling everyone to the stage
(Blades 2022).
After announcing that the show would shut down production for a month, the cast finished their
run of the show. But the energy of the room changed (Blades 2022).
“I was super silent,” Blades said. “I was literally sitting on the stage, knees to my chest going,
‘What does this mean?’”
Blades’ Broadway debut was scheduled for four days after that rehearsal. But it didn’t actually
happen for another 21 months (Blades 2022).
“It was torture,” he said. “There’s really no other word for it. I felt cheated” (Blades 2022).
Being cast as a swing and ensemble member of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child was a
full-circle moment for Blades. He grew up in Missouri (“a sports town, a sports state,” as he
described it) and watched a lot of movies since he was an only child on a street with no other
kids. He’d watch the Harry Potter films with his mom, pretending to do the accents alongside
the screen. After a trip to the Kansas City Starlight theater to watch a stage production of Beauty
26
and the Beast, he decided to become an actor (Blades 2022).
After Broadway shut down, Blades returned home to Missouri (Blades 2022).
“I didn’t really expect to be 24, living in my parents’ basement,” Blades said. “That was not how
I thought this year was supposed to go” (Blades 2022).
After six months of waiting, Blades said the production encouraged the cast to take any
opportunities to work in the meanwhile. But he had no representation to send him out on
auditions, if there were any, and he didn’t even know if he could put the show on his resume
because he had never technically been in it.
Blades still had New York City rent to pay. So he turned to survival jobs. After a brief stint as a
part-time front desk receptionist, he decided to move back to Los Angeles where his friends and
connections were. He returned to work at the same restaurant he worked at before he landed the
show (Blades 2022).
“I didn’t like my survival jobs,” Blades said. “I’d go to work and be like, ‘Man, I was supposed
to be on Broadway’” (Blades 2022).
The silver lining was that the film industry began to return. “It just felt nice to audition again,”
Blades said. “At that point, it was almost a year since I’d actually acted” (Blades 2022).
Blades didn’t book anything, but the pandemic didn’t shake his dedication to pursuing a career in
the performing arts (Blades 2022).
“[The pandemic] reminded me of how hard this industry is, and how reliant it is on so many
27
things,” Blades said (Blades 2022).
After such a long period of anticipation and waiting, Blades was ready. “I hit the point where I
was like screw any pressure, screw any preconceived notions, just get me up on that stage and
telling the story,” he said (Blades 2022).
He finally returned to rehearsals in October 2021, where the creative team had plans to majorly
restructure the two-part play into one. The cast was preparing to do some interviews with local
news outlets about returning to the theater that morning. Blades arrived early with excitement.
As he put his things down in the auditorium, he ran into a few castmates (Blades 2022).
“We just screamed,” he said. “We screamed and hugged each other, where everybody [could] see
it, nobody cared how they looked or if they were ready for an interview. There was so much ugly
crying behind the masks. I remember my face hurt from smiling the entire time” (Blades 2022).
Blades beamed at the memory, “I can’t stop smiling now. It was so amazing to be back in that
building” (Blades 2022).
His opening night was on December 7, 2021. But a week or so after, his cast had their first
positive COVID-19 case. And then another. And another (Blades 2022).
Due to the amount of cast members calling out sick, understudies and swings, who wait in the
wings of a performance ready to take over a role in the case of injury or sickness in the middle of
a show, took over (Blades 2022).
28
“It was wild for the swings,” Blades said. “I don’t know how I went through that whole week
and never had to go on for anyone else. But my swing brother ended up making two debuts to
two different tracks in two days” (Blades 2022).
By Saturday, there were six swings covering the show. By that night, so many cast members
tested positive or did not receive their PCR test results in time, so they had to cancel the show
(Blades 2022).
And then the show, like many others at the start of the Omicron variant surge, shut down for a
week. The cast was prepared for it to get extended, however, eight days from their last
performance they had enough of the cast and a few emergency swings to begin rehearsals again.
As of the end of December 2021, the show had yet to perform with the full starting cast (Blades
2022).
This was common for many Broadway shows at the time. Swings and understudies were pulled
into shows sometimes minutes before curtain. But rather than be impressed by this flexibility,
some were disgruntled. Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin told the Hollywood
Reporter that, “newer shows maybe have understudies that aren’t as efficient in delivering the
role as the lead is.” This comment sparked outrage in the Broadway community, as it insinuated
a lack of respect for the hard work of swings and understudies, especially during an
unprecedented time (White 2021). St. Martin later apologized for the comment. Many others in
the Broadway community, however, took the time to thank understudies and swings on social
media (Culwell 2021).
29
“It was nice, the week after, to have swing appreciation because it is one of the most thankless
jobs in the acting world,” Blades said. “But the importance is reminding everyone that COVID
didn’t do this—swings have always been doing this” (Blades 2022).
Blades said that the cast has been healing. Nearly the entire cast has gotten vaccine boosters and
wears their masks backstage (Blades 2022).
“Unfortunately, I think we’re kind of numb to it at this point,” Blades said. “But we’re slowly
healing…we all came together and we’re like, ‘Okay, we’re here and we’re gonna try and do it.
We’re gonna try to do it and keep everyone safe’” (Blades 2022).
30
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Abstract (if available)

Abstract As a theater artist myself, I witnessed the firsthand effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on my peers still working in the industry. Friends, mentors, and former collaborators were suddenly out of work, prevented from practicing one of the things that brings them the most joy. Much of the initial news coverage of the pandemic focused on numbers—seven-day average case numbers, daily death numbers, numbers of American individuals applying for unemployment, and the economic impact of nationwide “lockdown” orders. There was not much to be said, however, about the emotional toll of the pandemic, on individuals losing their jobs, passion, and sense of purpose for the foreseeable future. ❧ This project explores the personal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on theater artists working on Broadway and in other theater productions in the United States. Through interviews with theater professionals, scholars, and activists, this project explores the emotional and financial toll of the pandemic on the theater industry at large during the COVID-19 pandemic. These interviews were conducted over a year and a half during many different periods of the pandemic. Each of the selected six personal narratives connects to a larger current event issue from the time of their interview—be it the bureaucratic issues of docking cruise ships during the start of the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter and Scott Rudin protests, or the reopening of Broadway theaters after state and city emergency orders that prevented live performance venues from operating. The selected narratives are a fraction of the interviews conducted throughout the process of this piece and were chosen specifically because of their connections to relevant current events that occurred during the reporting period. Their stories humanize these events and reveal the human cost of the pandemic on the theater industry and artists beyond health concerns and economic impact.

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Thesis statements - a thesis podcast about how games are made.

Asset Metadata

Creator Doherty, Jessica (author)

Core Title ‘794,880 minutes’: How do you measure the COVID-19 Broadway shutdown?

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism (The Arts)

Degree Conferral Date 2022-05

Publication Date 02/03/2022

Defense Date 02/03/2022

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Acting,actor,Actors,actress,Art,Broadway,COVID-19,Entertainment,entertainment industry,live performance,OAI-PMH Harvest,pandemic,Performing arts,the arts,Theater,Theatre

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Bustamante, Peggy (committee chair), Seidenberg, Willa (committee chair), Pecot-Hebert, Lisa (committee member)

Creator Email dohertyj@usc.edu,jessicadoherty29@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC110618313

Unique identifier UC110618313

Legacy Identifier etd-DohertyJes-10377

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Doherty, Jessica

Type texts

Source 20220207-usctheses-batch-911 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu