Where has the time gone? We’ve been re-open since October 5, and we’re on our FIFTH city. In some ways, it all felt very familiar very quickly. Sure, there are twice-weekly nasal swabs for Covid testing, masking, and the ever-present mild to moderate health anxiety, but for the most part, we’re just back at work. Sharing the story with audiences again and being back in the building with the company is just the best. Audiences are slowly returning. Some are vibrant, some are quiet, some are full, some are slim, but the industry is attempting to heal, and I try to remind myself that this will all take time to ramp back up.
I am SHOCKED at how quickly the show came back into my bones. There were, of course, a few moments in rehearsal where the cast and our team had to relearn the show together after 18 months (wait...have you always picked up that prop from that place? Does it really face stage right like that *flips through paperwork*?), and there was a fair amount of “wait, where do I stand?” In tech, but truly it was all much smoother than I anticipated.
We’re chugging right along and have just started our first of six weeks in Florida. Thankful for the warmer weather as we creep toward winter—although we’re going to get paid back in full when we get to Minneapolis in January—but anxious about existing in a place where Covid-19 has been so heavily denied and politicized. That said, as I have noticed touring through other red states since our return, the benefit of touring through the more urban metropolitan areas is that you frequently benefit from the “blue-ness” of those locales and can frequently find a few places that require masks and make you feel semi-comfortable when the state as a whole might not match their concern for the ongoing public health crisis.
All we can do is keep going one day at a time, friends, and be thankful that we’re back at work.
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