But with constantly changing guidelines and uncertainty over when crowds can gather again, those who mount shows say they're trying to be as nimble, flexible and innovative as possible, knowing that everything can be shifted on them at a moment's notice."Our new philosophy here is: Nothing is certain until after it has happened," John Karastamatis, director of sales and marketing at Toronto-based Mirvish Productions, said in an interview.
In an interview early last month, Karastamatis said they still want to put on "Blindness," once lockdown ends. Safety measures at the Princess of Wales Theatre would include patrons sitting physically distanced onstage with a "very powerful air circulation system." There would be no concession stands, no physical tickets and no intermission.
Ottawa's National Arts Centre says it's been thinking on a more local scale these days rather than counting on productions with international artists or even those from other regions in Canada who might face travel restrictions. "The vaccine is promising and hopeful, and as soon as it's available to us, we'll all take it. But we'll still have to combat the reticence to come back into public spaces," Loring said.
"The big fear is that we're going to lose so many artists in the ecology as this thing drags on -- people just jumping because they don't see anything for the next few years," he said. "And particularly in Stratford, where we live and my wife is a director-choreographer. She was busy working on 'Chicago' and Steven Page's, new musical, 'Here's What it Takes.' And I was doing 'Richard III' -- we were in full swing, and then it just stopped. And a couple of weeks later, we were all released from our contracts."