New COVID-19 guidelines from the national labor union Actors' Equity Association have some Cleveland theaters scrambling as they return to the stage.
Cleveland Public Theatre even ended up postponing its fall show.
鈥淲e just felt overwhelmed very honestly,鈥� said Raymond Bobgan, the theater鈥檚 executive artistic director.
At the end of September, Bobgan and other theaters working with Equity members received notice of updated COVID-19 safety rules requiring testing all staff and actors three times a week. Theaters had a two-week window to implement changes.
As a smaller theater that casts actors with day jobs, the additional time and resources for Cleveland Public Theatre to comply on short notice gave Bobgan pause. He also said he had to quickly consider things like, how would this affect theater staff, how would they obtain and pay for tests and should they use up a large quantity of tests in the community?
鈥淲hen it comes to these kinds of large-scale decisions, we have to hit pause and ask, 'Are there unintentional consequences?'鈥� Bobgan said.
He ultimately decided to postpone Cleveland Public Theatre鈥檚 fall show, 鈥淏reakout Session (or Frogorse),鈥� which is inspired by Cleveland鈥檚 Consent Decree with the Department of Justice calling for changes to policing. The plan is to now present the work in March of next year.
鈥淭his is really hurting us. It鈥檚 hurting the project,鈥� Bobgan said. 鈥淭丑别 play is going to be awesome this spring, but, yeah, this is not an easy decision."
Two other area theaters, Dobama and Beck Center for the Arts, are forging ahead with the new guidelines.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of extra footwork for everyone to do,鈥� said Scott Spence, artistic director at the Beck Center in Lakewood.
Spence is also the theater鈥檚 COVID-19 compliance officer, a role that is another union requirement.
鈥淓very theater has, you know, one or two people who are overseeing that,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut, you know, again, it's a budgetary concern. So, I'm kind of doing double duty.鈥�
Actors may also end up doing double duty, filling in if someone tests positive, Spence said.
Last week, the Beck Center opened 鈥淭丑别 Exonerated,鈥� a docudrama about six wrongly-convicted individuals.
鈥淚t's very scary for smaller theaters that don't have the resources of larger theaters,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut even larger theaters鈥� it's really scary, you know, 鈥楢laddin鈥� in New York shut down.鈥�
The Broadway production of this month after breakthrough COVID-19 cases in its company.
At Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Heights, they anticipated some union rule changes would be coming and were preparing to do weekly testing, according to Dobama Artistic Director Nathan Motta. Still, the requirement of three tests a week came as a surprise, he said.
鈥淭hat definitely has provided, you know, challenges,鈥� Motta said. 鈥淏ut at this point, those are the rules, and we have to follow them.鈥�
Dobama intentionally delayed opening its season until the end of October thinking that would allow more time to implement changes and for the pandemic to improve. The plan to launch 鈥淎irness,鈥� a play about air guitar, is still in place.
鈥淭丑别 health and safety of the community comes first,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut at some point COVID is going to be with us for a while, and at some point, you know, we have to pursue our mission and invest those dollars that, that people have donated, and grant organizations and the government have invested, for us to reopen sooner.鈥�
All of these theaters have fully vaccinated staff and actors. But not all theaters abide by the same union guidelines.
For instance, the new guidelines don鈥檛 apply to Great Lakes Theater, but they are doing twice-a-week testing anyway, said Great Lakes' Producing Artistic Director Charles Fee.
鈥淲e call it the 'Antigen Thursday,' and we do 'PCR Sunday,'鈥� he said.
The company has been testing all summer while out west performing in Idaho and Nevada without incident, Fee said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e doing this because this is how we keep our company safe and how we keep each other safe. And that's critical,鈥� he said. 鈥淣obody wants to sit in a theater wearing a mask, but it's the only safe way to sit in a theater.鈥�
Masks and proof of vaccination are required for theater goers in Playhouse Square, where Great Lakes Theater opens its season this week featuring Shakespeare鈥檚 鈥淭丑别 Tempest.鈥�
Many theaters and venues around the region have implemented similar policies. Specific COVID-19 protocols for audiences are typically detailed on theaters' websites.
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