Actors heartbroken but hopeful even
after Broadway closure extended
A man walks past the shuttered Minskoff Theatre, home of the popular show “The Lion King” after industry group the Broadway League said Broadway theaters
will remain closed through January 3, 2021, in New York, U.S., July 2, 2020.
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
The theater world was dealt
another blow last week after
the Broadway League,
the national trade association for
the Broadway theater industry,
announced that performances
on the Great White Way would
not resume at least until May
30, 2021, with some saying that
performances might be delayed
until next fall.
“With nearly 97,000 workers
who rely on Broadway for
their livelihood and an annual
economic impact of $14.8 billion
to the city, our membership is
committed to re-opening as soon
as conditions permit us to do so,”
Charlotte St. Martin, president
of the Broadway League, said in
a statement last week. “We are
working tirelessly with multiple
partners on sustaining the industry
once we raise our curtains
again.”
Like thousands of businesses,
schools and cultural institutions,
the coronavirus pandemic forced
the city’s theaters to shutter their
doors in the spring as offi cials
tried to curb the spread of the
virus. Just in that short amount
of time, offi cials from the
Initially, the Broadway League
paused its 31 shows for a hopeful
32 days but has since been forced
to repeatedly delay the restart or
kill shows. Since then, New York
City has reached phase four of
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s
reopening plan which allows for
museums, botanical gardens,
zoos and other outdoor activities
to reopen. New York City public
schools have partially reopened
with a hybrid learning model and
indoor dining has resumed at a
reduced capacity.
Cases of the virus just recently
passed 3% again after upticks in
the virus in nine Brooklyn and
Queens zip codes. In response,
the state has issued shutdown
restrictions on schools, businesses
and houses of worship in those
“concerning” areas.
But while other areas of life
take small steps back to normalcy,
performers and their colleagues
behind the scenes are still left
waiting. After performances were
delayed again over the summer,
Manuel Cortes Alcazar, 29, knew
that he couldn’t wait any longer
and is working on moving back to
his native Mexico after 10 years of
performing in off-Broadway shows
and pushing to achieve a dream of
one day making it to Broadway.
“It’s heartbreaking because
I have spent all my adult life
pursuing this,” said Cortes. “I
can’t stay here anymore, I’m
not getting any help.” Since the
shutdown, many actors in the city
have had to rely solely on $600
weekly checks from the federal
government to make ends meet.
Many traditional survival jobs for
working performers like restaurant
work and bartending have
been killed during the pandemic.
But Washington stopped issuing
weekly stimulus checks at the end
of July and a new stimulus package
doesn’t appear to be coming
soon prompting many to seek
other options.
Some of Cortes acting friends
have found work in other fi elds,
two were lucky enough to land
gigs working as contact tracers, to
help them survive the pandemic.
The especially blessed have gotten
fi nancial help from bosses at parttime
gigs or their remaining survival
jobs. Actor Sean Bernardi
has been able to depend on work
at an Upper East Side piano bar
called Brandy’s as he waits for the
chance to co-direct a two-person
performance about Christine
Jorgenson, the fi rst transgender
person to undergo reassignment
surgery, in person.
Bernardi believes that New
York City theater, and all performance
art, will be able to survive
this rough patch. “It’s just like
PHOTOS BY REUTERS/MIKE SEGAR
New York, everybody is saying
that’s it’s dead… but New York
has survived for hundreds of
years and always bounces back,”
Bernardi told amNewYork Metro.
While others, like Tommy Mc-
Dowell, whose most recent work
includes playing Peter in the 50thanniversary
tour of Jesus Christ
Superstar, have temporarily
fl ed. Cortes has been surviving
off of a quickly shrinking supply
of savings since March and next
month he too will be forced to
leave the city for his hometown
of Tabasco. There, he plans to
regroup and eventually try to
make in the Mexico City theater
circuit and restart the painfully
complicated artist visa process
once audiences can safely return
to theaters in New York.
“It’s sad. I feel like I wasn’t
completely done with the city
but forces are pushing me out,”
Cortes said. ” I think I’ll be able
to come back. I hope I do get to
come back in the future.”
Schneps Media Oct. 15, 2020 5