NEW
YORK, United States — The
COVID-19 closures prompted many theaters around
the country to experiment with online offerings. Now, even though theaters have
reopened, a new Broadway play is planning to try streaming some performances.
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Second
Stage Theater, a nonprofit that operates a small Broadway house, plans to sell
a limited number of real-time, virtual viewings in January for the final 16
performances of “Clyde’s,” a dramedy about a group of ex-cons working at a
sandwich shop. The show, by two-time Pulitzer winner
Lynn Nottage, opens Tuesday.
The
decision to stream some performances, which Second Stage views as an
experiment, suggests that some of the survival strategies theaters embraced
during the pandemic could have a lasting effect on the art form.
“Over
the 18 months when we had to pivot, and shift a lot of storytelling to Zoom,
that opened up a new door of opportunity for many of us who make theater,”
Nottage said.
“What
we’re hoping is that folks who are reluctant to come out because of the virus,
or for whom theater is not accessible, will have access because of this
streaming.”
They
are not aiming for a mass audience. The streams will cost $59, which is the
same price as the least expensive ticket at the box office, so as not to
undercut in-person sales. (There will also be a $30 ticket for people age 30
and younger, as with in-person performances.)
The
virtual tickets will be limited in number — probably to around 200-300 a
performance — because as part of an agreement with labor unions, the theater
will cap the number of streaming tickets sold so as not to exceed the total
capacity of the theater over the course of the play’s run.
The
move is significant because, even though the Metropolitan Opera has been
streaming performances to cinemas for years, and a number of leading symphony
orchestras have long been streaming their concerts, Broadway has been resistant
to such a step, in part because of quality concerns, in part because of the
cost of compensating artists, and in part because of a fear of eroding the
appetite for in-person attendance.
In
2016, when
BroadwayHD livestreamed a single performance of the Roundabout
Theater Company’s revival of “She Loves Me,” the event was so unusual that it
was recognized by Guinness World Records; a few months later, the same company
also livestreamed a performance of Roundabout’s “Holiday Inn.”
The
pandemic prompted theaters to take digital work more seriously. With their
buildings closed, many off-Broadway and regional theaters, as well as some
prominent theaters in Britain, embraced streaming as one way to continue
connecting to audiences. There were complications both mundane (which labor
unions represent theater artists on-screen?) and existential (what is theater,
anyway?), but one upside was increased access for people unlikely to attend in-person
performances because of disability, geography or finances.
For
Broadway shows, there were some limited pandemic experiments with filmed
performances, but not livestreaming. A “Hamilton” movie, using footage shot and
edited in 2016, was released during the pandemic by a streaming platform, as
was a filmed version of
David Byrne’s “American Utopia”; the musicals “Come
From Away” and “Diana” filmed invitation-only run-throughs during the pandemic,
and those filmed performances were also released on streaming platforms.
Now, as
theaters reopen, some are discussing the pros and cons, as well as the
feasibility, of a so-called hybrid model, in which stage shows can be seen
either in-person or at home. Second Stage, working with the company Assemble
Stream, earlier this fall offered its subscribers an opportunity to livestream
some performances of an epistolary off-Broadway play, “Letters of Suresh”;
encouraged by that experience, the nonprofit decided to try the hybrid approach
for “Clyde’s,” which is its first post-shutdown Broadway show.
“In-person
activity is our priority, but we’ve learned a lot from the pandemic, as far as
finding other ways of engaging with audiences,” said Khady Kamara, the
executive director of Second Stage. There are a number of potential audiences —
those still leery of public gatherings, those who live outside the New York
area, those with a variety of accessibility concerns — and Nottage said she
also hopes at some point that the play could be streamed in prisons.
Kamara
said the theater would livestream “Clyde’s,” which stars Uzo Aduba and
Ron Cephas Jones, in real time during performances from Jan. 4-16 — it can’t be
watched on demand.
Is
there a risk that the project will dissuade people from coming to see the show
at the theater? “I really believe that the magic of being inside the theater,
and being so close to the stage, is not something that goes away,” Kamara said.
“I think that most people are still going to want to go with the in-person
experience.”
The
performances will be captured by five to seven cameras mounted by Assemble
Stream inside the
Helen Hayes Theater; the footage will be edited, remotely, in
real time, as with a live television broadcast, according to Katie McKenna, the
company’s vice president of marketing and business development.
Kamara
and McKenna said the theater would not need to remove any seats to accommodate
the cameras, and that the cameras would not obstruct any patron’s sightlines;
the cameras will be operated remotely. “Our goal is to be as non-disruptive as
possible,” McKenna said.
Neither
party would detail the financing arrangement, but Kamara said, “To begin with,
we’re not looking at this as a revenue stream, as much as we’re looking at it
as an additional avenue for us to provide access to the work that we put on our
stages.”
And
will Second Stage seek to stream other Broadway shows in the future? Kamara
described the “Clyde’s” streaming as a pilot project. “We are learning, and
will continue to learn, and we’ll see what the future holds,” she said.
“Certainly, if there is a market for it, hopefully we’re able to continue to
offer it.”
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