Charting a Path Back to Live Performance

Photo: Boston Circus Guild’s Keep the Light On, presented as part of the A.R.T.’s Virtually OBERON series.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced theaters around the world to shut their doors and face existential questions about the future. Theaters are asking how to safely reopen and how to responsibly welcome back audiences when it is safe to do so. In response to these questions, the American Repertory Theater has embarked on a unique collaboration with the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The resulting “Roadmap for Recovery and Resilience for Theater” is a living document focused specifically on COVID-19 safety for artists, audiences, staff, and performance venues. Three editions of the Roadmap have been published so far, with the most recent edition released in early February 2021.

The Roadmap is a living document focused specifically on COVID-19 safety for artists, audiences, staff, and performance venues.

The Roadmap distills essential questions that theaters are facing in this moment and addresses specific challenges including facilities, administration, rehearsal and production, audience, and pivoting to new models (such as outdoor and digital performances). There is also a section charting the latest developments in testing, vaccines, therapeutics, and new variants. While each theater must address the needs of their own different spaces and communities, the Roadmap also documents the A.R.T.’s own projects throughout the course of the pandemic. With its physical venues closed to the public in keeping with Massachusetts and Harvard guidelines, the A.R.T. is piloting a series of digital performances, as well as many different opportunities for audiences to engage virtually with A.R.T. artists and staff. In spring 2021, audiences are invited to experience digital performances including The Conjurors’ Club and Hype Man (presented in collaboration with Company One Theatre), as well as ongoing discussion series featuring A.R.T. artists.

The Roadmap also documents several ways that the events of the past year might be viewed as an opportunity for a necessary reset and reimagining. As part of its ongoing commitment to public health in its practices and programming, the A.R.T. recognizes that racism in America constitutes a public health crisis, and a central part of the A.R.T.’s recovery from the pandemic is becoming an anti-racist and anti-oppressive organization. The A.R.T. is tracking these efforts in quarterly reports published on the theater’s website.

Events of the past year might be viewed as an opportunity for a necessary reset and reimagining.

Released on February 1, 2021, the third edition of the Roadmap features extensive updates to the Facilities and Developments to Watch sections, including new information about vehicle use, instruments, singing, and portable air cleaners. The A.R.T. is also beginning to imagine in-person projects that still allow audiences to observe physical distancing and mask-wearing, including a work in development at the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain. The Roadmap documents the thinking behind these projects and shares some of the protocols that inform their implementation.

Readers can view the Roadmap below, and visit this page to be notified when new updates are made or new editions are released.

Explore the Roadmap