What Is Quarantine Theatre?

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What Is Quarantine Theatre?

This is a big question, and one that many people are currently trying to answer:

How can we make and perform theatre from our current states of quarantine and extreme social distance?

I’ve seen and heard this topic explored all over the place, particularly over the past two weeks, as we all look forward into a summer likely to leave theaters across the country (and the world) with nothing but well-lit ghosts.

I’ve personally seen this question posed by:

  • The Dramatists Live (hosted by Joey Stock, Amanda Green, and Christine Toy Johnson weekly)

  • Lauren Gunderson on her Howlround TV show (excellent, by the way!)

  • Ken Davenport in his blog

  • Multiple Artistic Directors of professional theaters

  • The heads of several University Theatre Departments

  • Teaching Artist friends and colleagues

  • And several quarantine-specific online creator groups

And if that’s just what I’ve seen - without specifically searching on this topic - I imagine that theatrical people everywhere are looking for these same answers.

So, what are people coming up with?

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Tighten The Net

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Tighten The Net

No doubt about it, these are uncertain times.

The world has been thrown for a loop - one that we had not properly prepared for - and “normal life” as we know it is going to be put on hold for some time.

Is this going to suck?

In a lot of ways, yes.

Is the mass chaos and fear warranted?

For us in the US, caution is certainly warranted, but perhaps not the extreme fear (and let’s hope it never gets to that point).

Do we know what’s going to happen moving forward? What that will look like?

No, not yet.

“So, everything’s terrible and all hope is lost???”

Not at all!

These precautions and life interruptions are necessary to prevent the wide spread of an illness that could see our entire health system overrun. That’s when the real trouble would start (look to Italy if you’re unsure what I mean).

This is going to hit a lot of people hard - not the least of which are artists, entrepreneurs, freelancers, small business owners, and all non-salaried/non-insured employees - but we can still support each other.

As Amanda Palmer says in The Art of Asking: Tighten the net.

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