Regional Spotlight: How Metropolitan Playhouse is Working Through the Global Health Crisis

Now more than ever it is important to support theater and do our part to keep the art form that we love so much alive and as thriving as it can be during these unprecedented times. While the global health crisis has temporarily put the theater world on hold, pausing all live performances and large gatherings to help stop the spread of COVID-19, theaters around the country have taken a hit. During this time of adjusting to our temporary new normal, theaters are figuring out how to take care of their team, and discovering the best ways to virtually bring theater to audiences.

Through our regional theater interview series, we are checking in with theaters all around the country, talking to them about how they are handling these difficult circumstances, learning what they are doing to move forward, and discovering the best way for people to help regional theaters during this time.

Today we're checking in with Metropolitan Playhouse!

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First of all, I want to check in on the health and wellbeing of everyone at Metropolitan Playhouse. How is everyone doing during this difficult time?

How I appreciate your concern! I share it, and hope the BroadwayWorld staff and supporters are faring well. The small staff of Metropolitan--myself and a handful of regular volunteers--is healthy and relatively secure, though we are all concerned as to how long we can remain financially secure as the pandemic and its ancillary effects--what I call the meta-virus--continue. The same can be said for our large family of affiliated artists and our board.

What do the days look like right now for those who work at Metropolitan Playhouse?

We began free weekly programing, live on-line, on March 28th. Presented via Zoom conference and streamed on a YouTube channel, and now broadcast on WBAI radio, these live video productions are increasingly sophisticated and popular, and they provide some small compensation to the artists involved. As the company's one staff member, I am as busy--or moreso--than before, maintaining this programing. But I have also been able to offer paid work to company affiliates.

The day to day work of running the company is familiar--tracking correspondence, bills, and donations--though working from my apartment, I'm glad enough not to have the hours' commute. However, with new shows each week, days are now crowded with engaging the participants, continuing to learn new ways of operating the technology and pass that along to others involved, promoting the events, and ensuring that the webpage, social media, and streaming links are regularly updated. I also spend a great deal of time each day touching base with artists and supporters, through e-mail, telephone, or video conference. I am much more regularly and intimately in touch with audience and artists, as we all seek ways to connect and support during the period of isolation. I also take a weekly trip to the theater to retrieve mail and files and to make sure again I didn't leave the water running : )

Support staff have been helping with social media updates, communication with our radio partner, and taking on archival clerical work that we finally have some time to attend to.

How much planning is going on both short term and long term for the theater?

Plans for the coming months are made in terms of possible scenarios, as so much remains unclear about the virus's progress and the activity in the city. For the short term, we plan to continue on-line offerings, which currently include two weekly programs. Saturday evenings are readings of a one-act play, chosen from the wealth of lost American theater, with live discussions conducted by artists and invited scholars. Thursday night's COVID Cabaret with Zero Boy, is an improvised show hosted by the downtown cabaret performer and vocal artist, with scenes invented on the spot in response to audience suggestions made via Zoom or YouTube chat. We are also planning to present our annual series of one-acts inspired by life in the East Village--the theater's home--through the online live streaming format.
In the longer term, assuming we can responsibly gather actors together in the same place, we are considering whether we have outdoor performance options, on the one hand, and how we may adapt our experience with onstage production to full scale video presentation.

Do you have plans to bring any previously filmed productions/upcoming events/classes etc. online?

We have very limited video content, and the costs of compensating the performers involved to obtain broadcast permission is well in excess of our means.

What is the best way for people to help Metropolitan Playhouse right now?

The company's motto, written into our e-mail address, is Connect at Metropolitan. We cannot do so AT Metropolitan right now. But particularly in light of the recent spate of horrific killings and consequent confrontations sweeping the region and the country, this message is more important than ever before. The best way to support the playhouse is to honor the spirit of that motto: connect with one another, hear one another, respect one another, love one another. It is the only way we will come through together and the way the theater has a future.