As the coronavirus pandemic continues to keep show business at a standstill, Broadway League President Charlotte St. Martin has shared new steps that she and fellow industry members are taking to ensure a safe return to the stage once theatres reopen—as well as her thoughts on when that might happen.
The current closure date (through June 7) was not meant to imply that shows would resume immediately after that. Clarifying, she told Deadline, "We said we were exchanging and refunding tickets up to June 7. I mean, every couple of days our guesstimates go further out. As late as two weeks ago we were thinking that with any luck we might be up by July and that a worst case scenario might be September. Now, the best guesses are that unless there’s serious testing and information that we don’t have now, we’re probably looking at September or later."
Martin added that even once government officials deem the situation safe enough for businesses and places of mass gatherings to reopen, it would take around six weeks before shows are fully back up and running.
In the meantime, the League has assembled 15 task forces, each gathering information to determine the current state of the industry and necessary steps for its recovery. One task force will focus on the perspectives of patrons and their level of comfort in returning to theatres; others examine touring operations, government relations, various marketing fields, and more."Each task force is trying to stay abreast of what they’re learning in that particular area, whether it’s research or marketing or health or any of those things," she says. "They’re each talking to one another in a group format so that everybody can stay on top of things."
Read the full interview here.
