by contributing writer Morgan Nydam, Lone Star High
The Super Bowl went off without a hitch, so where’s Broadway?
In the middle of December last year I attended one of my sister’s volleyball games at another school in our district. With a set number of tickets, sitting apart from other groups, and wearing masks for the duration of the game – my family and I followed every one of the rules governing covid safety in the stands. When I saw the girls blocking shots – coming face to face, unmasked, with only the loose net between them – I could only think of the rehearsal I had participated in only the day before. At this rehearsal, I was measuring out seats six feet apart for our Greek chorus where they would sit – still masked. I felt betrayed at the thought of why both
the Universal Interscholastic League (the body in charge of sports, academic, and arts
Involvement and competition) and my district would allow such biases to persist. However, my complaints are excluding the ever empathetic and supportive Administration at my high school – who I know are still backing us up, and have given us every opportunity in their grasp. It’s become a common joke of popular culture – the arts being underfunded and discounted by their communities, but I had never seen it as open and unashamed as in the policies handed down for the students. Even in the professional world, with Football, Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, and even Golf seasons occurring with very little interruption – it’s hard to quickly explain why Broadway will be staying closed through May 30th, 2021. ¹
In terms of performer and athlete safety, singing/speech and physically exertive activities have similar levels of aerosolized particle release while masked – with only a trend of increase in aerosolized particles from hard exercise. ² The main issues keeping Broadway from opening as fast as sports is a matter of medium and audience capacity.
Sports, from its very conception, can be enjoyed by even those not present, whether through television, radio, or rising new digital streaming methods – keeping viewership active and profit steady. And while these methods may be a viable option for some theaters, even being employed at my high school for our first post-covid production, the experience is much different from viewing live theater. In live theater, the audience feeds off one another to create the energy of a live performance, laughing, gasping, and in a true case of being moved – crying. In order to produce the same types of emotion movies and television shows use editing tricks like select pauses and pans as well as laugh tracks or live audience tapings – while nothing is taken from the game itself when watched on a living room TV rather than up in a stadium. When it comes to professional sports stadiums whose average capacity ranges from 60,000 occupants and up, it’s a lot easier to effectively socially distance and still make a large profit. In the case of historic theaters like ones used by broadway productions, it would take selling 80% of the audience in order to break even on the cost of production – in a normal non-covid year. Because of seating being limited to 10-25% in New York State, depending on the type of establishment, it is, unfortunately, more fiscally responsible to withhold from doing shows until seating as normal eventually resumes.³
Student and educational theater, while not depending on profit, are still greatly limited compared to the freedom and normalcy allocated to sports. Up until the March 2nd executive order by Texas Governor Greg Abbott removing the mask mandate, UIL rules required masks on stage for competition as well as optional social distancing and no stage contact at the digressions of the host school, whether it be competition or a school performance. ⁴ ⁵ Performing a comedy, drama, or other genre of play without physical contact is extremely difficult – portraying accurate emotion through a mask barrier doesn’t translate to the skill based world of sports. It’s been broadcast since the extension of the national quarantine from the initial two weeks, that isolation was going to have massive negative effects on the adolescent population. Those in the age range of 12-21 were shown to be the most anxious, and most likely to have psychological problems out of all demographics. ⁶ Multiple studies have also shown a correlation between the hard exercise and team comradery of sports and positive self-talk and mental health. Though a good majority of students don’t participate in sport, whether from physical ability or personality. As well as being a medium to allow awareness and the conversation of mental health, theater is just as much of a creative outlet for both actors and technicians. While I’m thankful for my district’s openness towards equal opportunities and my state’s ability to reduce restriction – since students in some states haven’t even been able to return to school at all this year. Shouldn’t all students be offered the same opportunities for emotional outlet?
Works Cited
- Covid-19 Update, www.broadway.com/announcement/covid-19-update/.
- a. Helgeson, Scott A et al. “Cardiopulmonary Exercise and the Risk of Aerosol Generation While Wearing a Surgical Mask.” Chest, S0012-3692(20)34508-6. 18 Sep. 2020, doi:10.1016/j.chest.2020.09.088
- b. Naunheim, Matthew R et al. “Safer Singing During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: What We Know and What We Don’t.” Journal of voice : official journal of the Voice Foundation, S0892-1997(20)30245-9. 2 Jul. 2020, doi:10.1016/j.jvoice.2020.06.028
- “Broadway Shows Continue to Stay Closed Despite Governor and Mayor’s Lofty Goals.” NYTIX, www.nytix.com/news/broadway-shows-continue-to-stay-closed.
- League, University Interscholastic. “Theatre Resources & Forms.” Resources & Forms – Theatre – University Interscholastic League (UIL), Expression Engine 2.0, 1 Mar. 2021, web.archive.org/web/20210301023515/www.uiltexas.org/theatre/resources-forms.
- Texas Department of State Health Services. “Executive Order GA-34.” Texas Department of State Health Services, www.dshs.texas.gov/ga3031/.
- Marques de Miranda, Debora et al. “How is COVID-19 pandemic impacting mental health of children and adolescents?.” International journal of disaster risk reduction : IJDRR vol. 51 (2020): 101845. doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101845
