Patrick Lundeen posted a question on facebook that I happened to see, which made me go off a little bit. Not at him, but at the general trend of theatre in our ‘uncertain quarantine times’ in general.
Patrick wrote:
Are Edmonton people planning on still trying to produce theatre in the fall??
Would you go see theatre in the fall??
Would you rehearse and perform a play in the fall??
Interested to hear my community’s thoughts on all this…
I wound up responding off the cuff with:
I have no plans or am included in any plans to produce in-person theatre in the fall or really anything before 2021. And I wouldn't go see any either. Truthfully, I don't think producers are taking very seriously the actual consequences of worst-case scenarios for their audiences, or for their performers and crew. The burden for years has fallen unnecessarily on talent, stage managers, and crew to absorb the burdens of leadership failings and in the past (and today), those burdens caused injuries, trauma, and abuses of pay and time.
Now that those failings could literally kill multiple people in and around our communities, I see no real reason to trust theatres on that front.
But since that reply, I've added a lot more personal thoughts here.
