A New Conscious-ness
(or, those EDIA promises sure look nice. it would be a shame if someone held you to them.)
I never dreamed that I would long for 2020 and 2021 again.
Hold on! I know. That was as hard for me to write as it was for you to read, but stay with me.
During those years, people in our industry took protecting one another seriously. Covid officers were required at every Equity rehearsal, Covid protections were the norm, and virtual theatre and livestreams were everywhere. Audiences were excited to support us by masking in theatres and participating with online art. As a community, we learned about and provided accommodations in hopes that more people could comfortably interact with our industry, including accommodations that disability advocates had been working towards for years. Tough conversations happened. We began to see how “the show must go on’’ mentality had been weaponized against us. “We Keep Us Safe!” resounded in online spaces. More of us began to see how the systems of oppression were all interconnected and part of the same ecosystem. Ultimately, we began to recognize the industry’s role in these oppressions and started to demand better.
I never imagined that by 2022 almost all of that work, all of those accommodations and realizations, would be abandoned to embrace those systems we rallied against.
I’ve asked myself why we, the theatre-makers of our industry, would decide to “go back to normal.” When the price of normalcy is so high, when it denies disabled, immunocompromised, and chronically ill people the chance to participate, why would we want it? We had spent quarantine learning how all systems of oppression are interconnected, yet, for some reason, we stopped caring once disabled people told us they were being left behind. Data shows that BIPOC and trans individuals remain the two groups most highly affected by Covid and Long Covid; white people, the least. It also shows that in 2020, when many white people read about the racial disparities regarding Covid infection and treatment, their support for Covid protections lessened and their empathy dropped. Around the same time, masks began to come off en masse and the #VaxAndRelax attitude became the popular philosophy. I have a tough time seeing how our industry “going back to normal” is anything other than an unchecked extension of ableism, racism, and transphobia.
So, what changed? The warnings from Covid experts certainly haven’t changed. If anything, more alarms have been raised on how we have an impending economic crisis on our hands due to increased cases of Long Covid and disability. Covid is not milder now than it used to be, it is not less contagious, it is not less dangerous to get infected multiple times. Covid is still a Biosafety Level 3 contaminant just like tuberculosis, West Nile virus, and anthrax. It is still spread through the air by laughing, speaking, and singing. The best ways to prevent infection are to use air purifiers, ventilation, and well-fitted masks. The only way to prevent getting Long Covid, which can force you into an early retirement, is to not get infected in the first place. Yet the industry has decided that *~vibes~* are the best way to deal with it all.
In my conversations with theatre staff, many have said that companies simply do not have the budget for Covid protections. They’ve also claimed that other staff, theatre-makers, and audiences don’t want them. I’ve heard the opposite, and from those most impacted by a lack of those protections. As is often the case with oppressed groups, many are too scared to ask for accommodations or to push back against the leaders in the room for fear of losing their jobs, stalling their careers, or being seen as “difficult.” What they do is come to me and other Covid-conscious theatre-makers in their community. Let me share some of the experiences I’ve seen and heard from this past year — many of which happened at multiple theatres, multiple times:
- A show where the entire cast and crew got Covid during tech, but kept it quiet and pushed through anyway. The theatre did not tell their audiences even though the cast and crew were all within the 10–14 days where they were still contagious.
- A show that had to emergency hire more than half of their crew, mid-run, because they all got Covid. The theatre did not tell their audiences.
- A show that rotated through three rounds of understudies because everyone kept getting Covid.
- A show where the lead had to leave because they developed Long Covid.
- A show that had to cancel the last week of its run because of Covid.
- A show that had to cancel the last two weeks of its run because of Covid.
- A show that had to cancel the entire run after its opening night because of Covid.
- A show that was completely canceled because of Covid.
Across the board, theatre leadership refuses to include air purifiers, masking, and testing in their standard protocol year-round. We hear cries of “We’ll lose our audiences! What about the budget!?” and then another avoidable outbreak promptly causes postponements and cancellations. Make this make sense! To me, it seems much cheaper to provide Covid protections from start to finish than to have to cancel a show or have three sets of understudies. It’s cheaper and makes more sense to require full audience masking at performances than to expose your cast and crew to Covid, flu, RSV, and pneumonia year-round. Theatres are collectively losing hundreds of thousands of dollars due to postponements and cancellations and then doing nothing to address the problem!
In the past, audiences made it clear that they were willing to mask in theatres if it meant they were protecting the cast and crew. Since theatres stopped doing it, the onus is on the rest of us to be transparent and communicate to audiences that masking helps protect theatre-makers, helps prevent cancellations, and helps make spaces safer for disabled, immunocompromised, and chronically ill audience members. Everyone wants to feel like they’re part of a group that is doing something good. So let them know! Hype them up! If we educate audiences, then the majority of them will accept the new requirement. If theatres are concerned about dwindling audience numbers, then they should be focusing on how to welcome disabled, immunocompromised, and chronically ill audiences into their spaces safely. Not only would this expand their audience base, but it would help fulfill their promises of Accessibility, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Yet, I’ve received nothing but resistance from the theatres I’ve spoken to.
I primarily live and work in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia (DMV) community. This past year I asked a number of theatres and institutions why they refused to add even one mask-required performance as part of their Accessibility mission. The majority of theatres either stonewalled me or avoided giving me an answer. One theatre confessed that they removed audience masking because they were tired of their front of house staff being threatened by irrational audience members. That’s legit. I’m not arguing that any front of house staff should have to deal with that. They’re not paid nearly enough. However, I urge us to consider who we are encouraging to enter our spaces and who we are choosing to exclude. I do not want verbally and physically abusive audience members in our theatres. I want community-minded, empathetic audiences sharing our spaces. Theatre leadership doesn’t seem to agree with me on this one. They would rather put their staff, performers, and crew at risk than ban a patron from the building. I understand that we’re all going through hard times right now and that theatres are closing left and right. It’s scary. However, returning to the status quo is not going to solve the problem.
So, what do we do?
Simply put: we, the theatre-makers, need to demand Covid protections from our leadership. Any discussions we have should use the previous Equity Covid protections as a guide and spotlight disability and Covid-conscious advocates from the start.
Note: I understand that every state is going to have different sets of laws in regards to legal protections which favor anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers. What counts as legal protections beyond the ADA in D.C., may not count in New York, may in California, may not in Michigan. The point is to demand that theatres act bravely in defense of us during this ongoing pandemic. The point is to demand the inclusive future we said we wanted. Providing zero protections is not part of that future.
1) We must start listening to disabled and chronically ill people and enacting their suggestions. Otherwise, we are wasting everyone’s time and risking our future.
2) Theatres need to create a standard infectious disease protocol based on accurate Covid data that is abided by, year-round. Theatres have shown that they will not do this on their own, so we need to demand it. A solid foundation would be: PCR testing twice a week for rehearsals and performances, masked rehearsals and backstage areas, air purifiers with up-to-date HEPA filters in all rehearsal and dressing rooms, and full audience masking. People who are sick should not be allowed in the space unless they are wearing N95s and there is consent from every single person in the room.
2a) If the idea of year-round audience masking makes theatres nervous, focus on the hardest hit months: September — March, your Fall and Winter seasons.
2b) If full audience masking is a complete non-starter, the very least we can demand is that two mask-required performances be added to every play in their season. This does not protect the cast and crew, but it does help theatres grow their audience base as chronically ill and immunocompromised people become more welcomed into the space. Please don’t stop there. Please let them know how important it is to protect theatre-makers. We are, quite literally, their future.
3) For auditions, theatres need to run air purifiers with up-to-date HEPA filters in the audition and waiting rooms. If they’re legally able, they should also require masks in the waiting rooms.
4) If theatres would prefer a more flexible protocol, cool! Make sure they base their actions on wastewater data, not Covid hospitalizations or deaths, as both are massively underreported in the United States.
5) Theatres need to be transparent and upfront about Covid protections in Equity breakdowns, in offers, and on websites. We should know what protections to expect before the first meeting or day of rehearsals.
Obviously, there will be medical exceptions to some of these protections. The whole point of full cast, crew, and staff participation is so that those who cannot wear a mask, for example, are still as protected as possible in the space. They deserve protection, too.
None of this 100% guarantees that shows won’t be closed or postponed because nothing is a guarantee. That uncertainty only grows if we do nothing to protect one another outside of rehearsals and performances. We should absolutely be masking up, using nasal sprays, eating and meeting outdoors, and getting the updated vaccines, if we’re able, to prevent bringing in any illnesses. However, it is ultimately up to theatres to provide safer working environments for us all. They are currently failing to do so and we are choosing to accept it. I’m tired of accepting scraps of safety in silence. Aren’t you?
As much as I wish it were different, the pandemic is not over. The government has washed its hands of it, and those at the very top of our industry will use the government’s inaction as an excuse to pretend everything is fine. What that means for us, the people who physically create the shows, is that we will be sacrificed if it means keeping their business afloat. I don’t know about you, but I am not okay with that. I cannot accept the price of a new, fake “normal” to be someone’s health, career, or life.
No matter how much we hate it, no matter how much we’re over it, Covid is not through with us. If we continue to ignore this reality, our industry will continue to crumble. We need to look at the data, the facts, and the science, which all point to the problems Covid presents, and face them head on. “We keep us safe” shouldn’t be a slogan we only say when we’re angry, but a daily call for action in the face of injustice. None of us can do this alone, but together we can demand that our theatres live up to their missions and make their spaces safer, more inclusive, more diverse, and, yes, more accessible. All it takes is you to demand those changes.
