February 2022
CHAPTER 6: TONY AWARDS
Starting this season, Tony Awards voters must complete unconscious bias training in order to vote in any categories. The news, sent to voters Friday, requires members to take a free, online training session led by inclusion strategist Vernā Myers. The course is meant to teach viewers how to identify unconscious or implicit bias in their own decision-making processes and how to correct it, according to the course description. … Voters must self-attest that they have completed the training by March 1, 2022.
CHAPTER 10: PRODUCERS
As Broadway productions are forced to close or take a break in response to rising COVID-19 case rates, producers are grappling with the traditional Broadway model.
The Broadway League recently proposed a 50% pay cut for employees of a production when a show is canceled due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, according to sources familiar with the matter. Unions have thus far rejected this proposal, which would return employees to full salary when the production resumes.
The proposal comes as five Broadway productions posted closing notices in recent weeks. “Mrs. Doubtfire” recently announced a nine-week hiatus for the show starting this week. Productions have cited a rise in cases related to the Omicron variant, which has led to show cancellations, as part of the reasoning for these decisions.
When facing these challenges, Kevin McCollum, producer of “Mrs. Doubtfire” and “Six,” said Broadway producers currently have two options at their disposal: closing the show or trying to keep it open. No one is at fault for this binary choice, McCollum said, but the desire to find another way forward has taken on more urgency in the past 10 days.
“Everybody’s working really, really hard. And there’s no one answer, except we all have to come together and find a solution if we are going to stay open as an industry,” McCollum said. “The industry needs a new deal that is not intrinsically tied to eight shows a week, every week, during a pandemic.” The Daily Beast first reported news of the proposed pay cut.
Presented with the option for the pay cuts, some union leaders were willing to consider the proposal if producers revealed how much money each production retained from the Shuttered Venue Operators Grants, according to sources. Productions were eligible to receive up to $10 million from the federal grant program and the money was earmarked to be used for reopening costs, as well as for COVID-19 testing and other production costs. Some producers say that money has already been spent. Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin declined to comment on the offer made to unions.
McCollum was able to broker a deal in which “Mrs. Doubtfire” will close for nine weeks and then return to the Stephen Sondheim Theater, owned by Roundabout Theatre Company, on March 15. This has not been standard practice in the industry and largely depends on the willingness of the theater owner.
In order to enact the hiatus, McCollum said he needed to give company members one-week’s notice, per the collective bargaining agreements for a show’s closure. The production then ends its contracts with the actors and crew members, clears out its treasuries and returns tickets. While he retains the theater, McCollum notes that there’s a risk the actors, who are not paid during the hiatus, choose not to return.
The total cost of the hiatus is little more than $500,000, McCollum said, which includes “drastically reduced rent” payments for the theater, as well as the cost of rehiring treasurers when tickets are put back on sale, paying for marketing around the on-sale date and conducting rehearsals before the show’s return. This pales in comparison to the show’s projected loss of at least $3.5 million during that time period, McCollum said. …
As case numbers rose across Broadway, McCollum said that costs for his production, which tested on a daily basis, increased. Weekly costs for testing the 115 cast, crew and other staff members reached close to $60,000 — due to the closure of some labs and the need for rushed results — compared to about $18,000 before the surge in cases.
This was accompanied by decreasing advance sales — the daily wrap at “Mrs. Doubtfire” went from $175,000 to $50,000 — as consumer confidence took a hit due to the slate of Broadway shows canceling. McCollum said his family-friendly production was also contending with confusion from theatergoers over the recently announced vaccination policy for children.
When “Mrs. Doutbfire” went dark for 11 shows, from Dec. 12 to Dec. 21, the production lost $1.5 million, in what would typically be a high-grossing holiday period. McCollum made the decision to put the show on hiatus.
While a show’s closure can ultimately be traced to its finances, productions have also been contending with a lack of understudy coverage when multiple cast members test positive for COVID-19. This was the case at “Thoughts of a Colored Man,” which announced its closure on Dec. 23.
Going into the run, producer Brian Moreland said he knew the play could not sustain multiple days of cancellation related to the virus — as a new show, “Thoughts of a Colored Man” was not eligible for federal grant money. … “And then we got our first positive case. And then we had a second positive and a third positive and a fourth positive and a fifth positive, and once we had those numbers climb into the cast itself, we couldn’t cover it,” Moreland said.
The winter typically sees a number of Broadway closures, but this time it feels novel because the closures are unexpected, said Vivek Tiwary, a producer on “Jagged Little Pill,” which played its final performance on Dec. 17. “We thought we were returning in October to a long and healthy show. We certainly never saw that coming,” Tiwary said. “What’s happening is shows that wanted to play for longer are finding that they are unable to do so. That pain is not over yet.” ...
Still, producers speak with optimism about the industry’s path forward. McCollum sees the potential for a return in consumer confidence in March, as case numbers hopefully decline. Tiwary plans to produce a number of new projects and the leadership team of “Jagged Little Pill” has hinted at a possible return for the show.
The question is when exactly that path will clear and what will happen in the interim.
CHAPTER 10: PRODUCERS
Variety's Gordon Cox - "“It just turned into triage.” That’s how Anne Quart describes the past few weeks on Broadway. As senior VP of production and co-producer at Disney Theatrical, Quart saw first-hand the chaotic spate of disruptions, cancellations and closings prompted by the surging omicron variant, not just in New York but around the world, during the crucial holiday period. ... Post-holidays, Broadway has begun to steady itself, and most guess things will stabilize further, with omicron receding as quickly as it has in other areas of the world. The industry is still bracing for a hangover period that could last up to a couple of months — but hopes for the spring are high. Inasmuch as anyone can bank on anything in unpredictable times. “I think the one thing we’ve all learned,” Quart says, “is we just take it one day at a time.”"
CHAPTER 17: WRITERS
Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright Lynn Nottage has 3 shows running In NYC at the same time. Her Broadway play “Clyde’s” is running through Sunday at the Hayes Theater, she wrote the book for “MJ The Musical,” which is in previews at the Neil Simon Theatre, and now she’s adding her opera, “Intimate Apparel,” to the list of performances people can see in the Big Apple."
CHAPTER 19: USHERS & HOUSE STAFF
While “F.” is proud of what she does, she admits, "Mask compliance isn't fun. I have been called things like mask Nazi. I'm Jewish and I just stopped dead in my tracks the first time someone said that. We've all been called some name or cursed at. We're just trying to keep everyone as safe as possible. It's crazy times right now and we want everyone to see theatre. You can't do this job unless you love theatre.
CHAPTER 22: THEATRE OWNERS
“Over the next eight weeks, Broadway’s iconic Palace Theatre will be painstakingly raised 30 feet above street level so that surrounding construction can begin on TSX Broadway, a sprawling complex with robust dining and shopping options, a new hotel and a mammoth outdoor terrace.”
CHAPTER 22: THEATRE OWNERS (AND CHAPTER 10: PRODUCERS)
National Independent Venue Association addresses Congress: “Usually 5% of ticket buyers don’t attend. Now the number of no-shows is often closer to 50% and most of us rely on in venue sales to cover our expenses. During the hearing most members of both Congressional parties appeared to endorse some form of additional aid for the sector but did not coalesce around a single solution. Other witnesses included Be An #ArtsHero, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Actors’ Equity.
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