COVID Curtains on Broadway Shows

Alayna Verduyn Author

08/17/2022 Added

10 Plays

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2022 Nebraska Broadcasters Association Pinnacle Awards Best Student Television News Feature: “COVID Curtains on Broadway Shows,” Alayna Verduyn, May 2022 graduate, broadcasting major with an emphasis in news; from Clive, Iowa.

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[00:00:00.000]While many have gone back to work
[00:00:01.590]since the start of the pandemic,
[00:00:03.030]everyone involved in the theater industry
[00:00:04.770]is still waiting for their chance to return to the stage.
[00:00:07.440]From the lives of Broadway performers,
[00:00:09.090]to even students here at UNL, have completely changed.
[00:00:12.180]And here's how they plan to return to some normalcy.
[00:00:14.730]I went to Nebraska, March 16th,
[00:00:16.800]having lost my job on March 12th.
[00:00:19.860]And I stayed in Nebraska for six months.
[00:00:23.481]Sam Hartley is a Lincoln native who was playing
[00:00:26.580]the lead role of Billy Flynn in the hit musical "Chicago,"
[00:00:29.910]preparing to travel the country on tour.
[00:00:32.070]Tours. I've never come to Nebraska.
[00:00:34.177]"Chicago" was the first show
[00:00:35.726]that I have been on that has traveled,
[00:00:39.153]that was supposed to come to Nebraska,
[00:00:41.250]and let alone Nebraska, Lincoln.
[00:00:43.620]Like I was gonna play the Lied Center.
[00:00:45.150]Since the moment of the shutdown,
[00:00:46.980]every Broadway performer like Hartley,
[00:00:48.990]was suddenly unemployed.
[00:00:50.790]We left New York across the country,
[00:00:53.475]and 40 minutes away is what is going to end up
[00:00:58.920]costing all of us our jobs.
[00:01:00.589]40 minutes away from where Sam Hartley's show
[00:01:03.540]was rehearsing,
[00:01:04.373]was the first case of COVID-19 in the United States.
[00:01:07.200]We left an industry to burn to the ground, basically.
[00:01:12.120]How do we do programming that is accessible
[00:01:14.580]and keeps us alive?
[00:01:16.285]Dolly Levi!
[00:01:19.260]Cultural and arts organizations
[00:01:21.120]have felt a severe impact financially,
[00:01:23.340]with ticket sales down around 90%
[00:01:25.590]and losses topping 1.7 billion in total.
[00:01:29.190]Many of the tickets that were sold,
[00:01:30.720]were to shows that were canceled or postponed.
[00:01:33.240]So the immediate response was shut down, reassess,
[00:01:36.073]what can we do?
[00:01:37.300]Nate Jorgenson has been involved
[00:01:39.240]in community theaters across the Midwest,
[00:01:41.340]his whole life,
[00:01:42.180]as both an actor and director.
[00:01:44.220]A lot of what happens is that these theaters
[00:01:46.050]are only in existence because there's patrons
[00:01:49.410]going to see the show,
[00:01:50.243]and that's how they make their money.
[00:01:51.540]Even students studying theater
[00:01:53.130]have had their worlds turned upside down.
[00:01:55.200]Brett Gaffney is a Theater Performance major
[00:01:57.210]at the University, Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:01:59.400]I feel like I'm teaching myself.
[00:02:02.460]Theater majors main focuses include being present
[00:02:05.220]and in tune with their minds, bodies, and emotions,
[00:02:07.980]and being virtual is a hurdle
[00:02:09.480]they have all had to learn how to conquer.
[00:02:11.863]There is no space at all.
[00:02:14.340]I would knock into my dresser, bump into things.
[00:02:17.790]My dog would run in and out of frame.
[00:02:19.920]While being online isn't ideal,
[00:02:22.050]performers and students alike are just happy
[00:02:24.420]to have any opportunity to do what they love.
[00:02:27.060]Gaffney is currently preparing his starring role
[00:02:29.490]in the play "Dracula,"
[00:02:30.840]which will be filmed and streamed virtually.
[00:02:33.210]At least I can do this.
[00:02:34.290]We're the only show that's being produced
[00:02:35.899]in any Big Ten school.
[00:02:37.746]And if there's one thing
[00:02:39.180]that people in the theater world
[00:02:40.530]want everyone to remember, it's this.
[00:02:42.900]I hope people remember how much they missed the art.
[00:02:47.250]And we'll be fine. We'll be back.
[00:02:48.720]We're picking back up.
[00:02:49.886]But that was also really isolating.
[00:02:54.600]I'm Alayna Verduyn,
[00:02:55.620]reporting for the Nebraska News Service.

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COVID Curtains on Broadway Shows

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