With the possibility of stay-at-home orders being lifted in mid- to late May throughout the St. Louis region, local theater companies are envisioning scenarios for moving forward in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tonight, representatives from groups such as the Fox Theatre, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, COCA, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Stages St. Louis, Stray Dog Theatre, St. Louis Actors’ Studio, New Jewish Theatre, That Uppity Theatre Company and others will be meeting via video conference call to address a range of concerns, including how to safely conduct auditions, rehearsals and performances, as well as seat audiences, once restrictions on large gatherings end.
“My main concern is keeping the audiences safe, along with the actors and creative team,” said Moonstone Theatre Company artistic director and producer Sharon Hunter, who created the St. Louis Theatre Community Task Force. “As I navigate my own return to producing Moonstone’s first show in November at The Marcelle, I was thinking about how we would do just that. If seating arrangements would be different, if masks would still be needed or temperatures be taken before people can enter. These are all questions that we need to consider and find answers to.”
The St. Louis Theatre Community Task Force is the first of its kind to collectively address the theater community’s needs in navigating operations in the aftermath of the coronavirus.
Representatives from the Fox Theatre, The Rep and the Kranzberg Arts Foundation, as well as the Actors’ Equity Association, are among those planning to attend tonight’s meeting in hopes of recommending and sharing strategies to safely resume operations. Organizers have also invited officials from the St. Louis County Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to participate.
“My hope is that all the theater companies can get on the same page and discuss ideas and solutions for how we proceed together,” Hunter said. “This is not a time for competition between theaters. It’s a time for putting performers and audiences first, as well as the general health and wellbeing of our communities.”
For updates, visit the St. Louis Theatre Community Task Force Facebook page.
