TheArts Spotlighting greater Kalamazoo's arts community
The Show is On Again
Theaters soldier on despite Covid-induced complexities BY MARIE LEE
I
t used to be the challenges of staging a theater production involved making sure that everyone was getting stage directions right and that cast members knew their lines. Thanks to Covid-19, putting on a show is a lot more complex these days. From requiring masks for performers and audiences, frequent Covid testing and proof of vaccination or negative Covid tests from cast members and audiences to the looming specter of having to cancel a show because of illness, local theater leaders and directors of recent shows say that while they have a lot more on their plates than before, it's worth it to have actors back in front of audiences. "Without the patrons, we might as well be singing in the shower," says Jeremy Koch, artistic director of Farmers Alley Theatre. "We want to perform for a live audience because the power and beauty of live theater is visceral. It must be experienced, and that's how it hits you in the heart and mind and soul." Farmers Alley "went as healthy and safe as possible" when reopening shows to audiences this season, says Koch. All employees and audience members must be fully vaccinated, and audiences are asked to wear masks during the entire show so that the actors can perform without masks. And in order to keep patrons from milling around before the show, the 110-seat theater doesn't open its main doors until 30 minutes before curtain, and its bar is closed. 22 | ENCORE JANUARY 2022
"We have someone at the door to have audience members trickle in," Koch explains. "We have multiple people checking them in and checking vaccination cards. Once they are checked in, they go into the theater, and then the next person is allowed in the lobby." For some local theaters, the policy of whether or not performers are masked and/ or vaccinated isn't determined by the director. Jay Berkow, who produced Western Michigan University Theatre's November production of Significant Other, says that his performers are bound by the university's policies when it comes to masks and vaccinations.