Our family loves music & theatre. Plays, musicals, opera, concerts, cantatas - we’ll see just about anything with talented people on a stage. Shutdowns and mitigations stole the joy of these experiences, and the memories they etch, from us for two years.
In our area, high school productions and some children’s companies returned to normal first. Many suburban performing arts centers have now loosened their covid policies, as have Lyric Opera and the Broadway in Chicago venues, for now.
Why the performing arts, in particular, were so slavishly devoted to covidianism, even after any state and local restrictions were lifted, is perplexing1. Politics no doubt played a role. Government money and the financial/philosophical support of foundations and wealthy patrons kept many theatres from having to close (and helped sustain the myth that the virus itself shut down the arts).
But federal subsidies, big-donor dollars, and a false religion will only take you so far. Eventually, you need more people to buy tickets — for financial reasons, to sustain the souls of the actors, directors, & crew, and to fully realize your raison d’être.
Which brings me to the theatre closest to my house. I wish I could say we’ve been to every show since it reopened. Sadly, they still require everyone to mask. I walk past the building most mornings, hopeful that The Sign will be gone, or changed. Alas, it’s still there.
So I wrote a friendly email today, humbly requesting that they consider changing their policy.
I’m not naive enough to think my plea alone will open anyone’s eyes, or that I’ve said anything they don’t know or haven’t already heard. Their reasons for keeping the policy it in place might more complicated - or more personal - than I realize.
If you live in or close to Wheaton, Illinois, will you consider reaching out to Wheaton Drama as well? Maybe if more people, including people who’ve been going to shows despite the mask requirement, earnestly and kindly ask them to reconsider, whatever forces or individuals are keeping that sign up will relent.
I can’t get back the shows we would’ve seen had the world avoided fear and panic. But the arts are finally coming out of the fog, and I’m more hopeful than ever that my family’s best theatre experiences lie ahead…including at our local theatre.
UPDATE: Sadly, they love masks too much…
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s demanding the Edinburgh Festival Chorus wear masks is the most recent example of the extreme fidelity to covid-avoidance. https://www.inquirer.com/arts/philadelphia-orchestra-edinburgh-festival-chorus-masks-covid-20220819.html
The arts industry (of which I am a part) has prostrated itself entirely to the covid gods. I don’t know if it comes from a deep sense of self loathing but it has been shameful theatre. Wind players wearing masks with holes. Wearing masks to walk on stage and then taking them off. Page turners wearing masks whilst performers don’t. I was working on a theatre where all string players had to be continuously masked but wind and brass did not. Plastic screens between musicians. A musician friend was escorted out of the pit by security because her son had tested positive for covid-19, even though she hadn’t seen him for 3 days.
Emma, This doesn't have to do with Wheaton Drama, but thought you'd find it interesting. Went to Chicago for breakfast---a restaurant called Sweet Maple Cafe in Little Italy. They are mandating vaccine passports!! Proof of vaccine card to enter!! So I left as I'm not vaccinated....but I could not believe people are showing their vaccine cards--the place was crowded. People are still assholes.