Covid-19 Streaming - Theatre Edition

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This is the first that I've heard of, but it's a start...

For One Theater, a ‘Marvelous’ Way to Perform in Lockdown
With actors on payroll, Seacoast Rep has removed seats, added tech equipment and is selling tickets for a musical livestreamed every weekend.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/28/theater/lockdown-musical-new-hampshire.html

A key condition was that the shows could only be watched live, and there is a 200-ticket cap per “Wonderettes” performance — sales have averaged half that so far. Seacoast Rep’s other programs are available on replay via their theater’s streaming platform, Crowdcast. Patreon subscriptions are available, and James notes that ‘we’re monetizing some offerings way more after they’ve gone live.”

(The by-appointment model, incidentally, is spreading as a compromise between rights holders and theater companies itching to find material. London’s Old Vic, for instance, has just announced Old Vic: In Camera, a program of livestreamed performances in the theater, socially distanced but without audiences, that will start with Claire Foy and Matt Smith in the two-hander “Lungs.”)

 

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An interesting NYT article:

‘Why Are We Stuck?’ Stage Actors Challenge Their Union Over Safety

A dust-up in Dallas and a 2,500-person petition signal that many performers believe their representatives are keeping them from getting work.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/theater/actors-equity-health-safety.html

'Now the 51,000-member union, which for the last year has barred almost all stage work in the United States, is in the cross hairs, under fire from some of its own members as it tries to navigate a path that keeps them safe and helps them earn a living.

Quietly simmering frustrations erupted publicly last week, when more than 2,500 union members signed a letter, circulated by a Broadway performer and signed by Tony winners and Tony nominees, plaintively asking, “When are we going to talk about the details of getting back to work?”'