I've been self-isolating since the evening of March 12, the same evening that Broadway shuttered for a minimum of one month.
I'm not going to sit here and write a think piece about theatre in the age of coronavirus, about how this is probably the worst economic catastrophe our industry has ever faced, about how we survived the plague and honestly have been "dying" for 2000 years and are somehow still kicking, or about how Shakespeare wrote three of his most famous plays and some bomb poetry when he was quarantined for a year. You all know all of that. Or if you don't, that's fine too. I will say that I miss theatre more than ever. I haven't felt this ache since I was fourteen and quit theatre entirely to focus on my academics (lol). Seeing and working on shows has been a relative constant in my life, and I know I am not alone in missing the joy of collaborating, the thrill of the houselights dimming before a show begins, or just fucking around with my friends who love theatre like I do. Thankfully, I have a roommate that fits that description, so all is not lost. So, enough of that emotional nonsense. This is gonna get worse before it gets better and we are going to be missing the bright lights of Broadway (and Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway, and all the amazing regional and community theatres around the country and world) for some time. Here is a short list of things I've been doing to try and numb the ache in my chest that only live theatre can really soothe. Read More Plays
I have a bookshelf full of plays and although I've read most of them there are a few I'd somehow not gotten around to yet. I just read Sarah Ruhl's adaptations of Three Sisters, originally by Anton Chekhov, and Orlando, based on the novel by Virginia Woolf. Admittedly, I would maybe not recommend Chekhov or any adaptations of his work during these trying times, considering his plays are kind of existentially fraught. I know the whole thing people have with Chekhov is he's actually super funny, but I was not feeling his brand of humor. I did love this particular quote during one of the play's many philosophizing sessions, brought you by Tuzenbach, a lieutenant who is in love with one of the titular sisters, Irina:
"Well, after we're gone, people will most likely fly in balloons, wear a different cut of coat and discover a sixth sense. But life will essentially be just the same. It's difficult, and happy, and full of mystery. A thousand years from now, people will be sighing, just as we do: Oh, life is hard! All the same, they will fear death. And try to avoid dying. Just as we do now." I don't think I need to offer any sort of explanation about why that quote resonated with and comforted me right now. So maybe I do recommend reading Chekhov right now. I would, however, recommend keeping some sort of tracker of all the characters, because if you've read Russian plays or literature before you know that each character has approximately 12,000 names. Orlando, on the other hand, was absolutely delightful. I haven't read the source material, but I love Virginia Woolf's other books (okay, I've only read Mrs. Dalloway. Sorry for not being a true fan girl) and this felt like a perfect marriage of Woolf and Ruhl. The play is, essentially, about a 16th century young man named Orlando who is a bad poet and has many a sordid affair and falls in love a lot and then one day wakes up and is a woman. It's awesome, and funny, and joyful, and silly, and I would highly recommend it. The book was also written as a love letter from Virginia Woolf to her lover, Vita Sackville-West, and who doesn't love a bit of 20th century queer history with their theatre? Listen to Theatrical Podcasts
2. So, I used to be pretty anti-theatre podcasts because I thought they were all bad (except for Lend Me Your Ear, Slate's miniseries about Shakespeare and politics, which is phenomenal), but a recent NYTimes article led me to reconsider my position. Also, I have been listening to considerably fewer news, politics, and current events podcasts, and those are usually the bread and butter of my podcast listening experience. I've been enjoying Curtain Call, which has been posting short form interviews with theatre professionals from around the world, Variety's Stagecraft for longer interviews with Broadway's best, and Playing on Air for radio plays written and performed by New York theatre regulars.
Support Artists Online
So many theatre artists have been taking the time out of their newly quarantined lives to create content and virtual spaces for community. I know Young Jean Lee has been providing virtual playwrighting workshops, Rosie O'Donnell put together a star-studded virtual Broadway concert to support The Actors Fund, and every day on twitter and instagram theatre makers from amateur to professional and every where in between have been posting songs, monologues, and pieces of whatever projects they were working on that got cut short by this virus. This NYTimes article has info on where to find dozens if not hundreds and thousands of videos like those I've mentioned.
Of course, I do want to specifically plug my amazing roommate (and quarantine buddy) Hanna Berggren, who has been going live on her instagram, @hanberggers, most weeknights at 9:00 and Sundays at 11:00 to sing for whoever wants to tune in! She has an incredible voice and a deep love for music, and she takes requests! She's been singing a mix of musical theatre, pop music, and her original pieces. I personally requested "With You" by Jessica Simpson for tonight's live show, so if you, like me, love some early 2000s Jessica Simpson love songs, you should definitely tune in! I think those are going to be all my recommendations today. Of course I've also been watching tons of movies and TV and YouTube videos and reading books and doing whatever I can to try and stay sane amidst all of this utter chaos. It's really hard. It's going to keep being really hard for a while. But I do believe there is a light at the end of this tunnel, we just don't know how long the tunnel is. Or what the light source is. However, I do have a feeling that the bright lights of Broadway will somehow be a contributor. âStay safe and healthy out there.
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Stephanie KaneI like reading plays, drinking lots of coffee, and holding other people's Tony Awards. Archives
August 2018
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