Maybe This Is Our Future...

I noticed a poster at our local grocery store advertising the high school's latest theater production...

Tuck Everlasting

I wasn't involved in many productions in high school, but I have done many community theater productions in the past twenty years. I remember the butterflies and the excitement, making sure everything is ready to go. There's a lot of pressure, but the payoff can be huge. There's nothing like opening night.

But, have you ever done a show to an empty theater?

I wonder if that could be our future.

I checked out the school's website and saw that they are selling tickets to see the show live, but they are also allowing the show to be streamed--for a price, of course. This changes things dramatically (sorry...). I know many of us work at home. Now, we can watch and support arts locally and never leave our house.

As an audience member, I can definitely understand the concern many would have going to see a show. Even if they put a person in every other seat and you're wearing a mask, you're pretty close to each other. I think many will have issues being in an enclosed space with hundreds of other people.

Then, there's the actors and workers at the theater...they need protecting, too. I think we forget about them sometimes. 

We're all adapting, doing the best we can. Allowing streaming gives people the opportunity to see shows they normally would not see. This is good. Doing shows is good. Supporting the arts is good. Hopefully, we can all do more of this safely in the future.