Theatre Washington Launches Virtual Bucket Brigade

Theatre people pre-date the gig economy. Itinerant performers entertained villages centuries before the first theatre building was constructed. And Shakespeare's Globe Theatre often had to lay off the whole company because of epidemics of plague. Now, in the Washington, DC area, ninety theatre companies have had to cease operations because of covid-19. Many of those who work in them as actors, designers, lighting, sound, and costume staff, directors, and box office personnel do not have benefits such as sick leave and health insurance-they just get paid show to show. Fifty productions had to be cancelled and twenty more, which were about to open, never will.

Theatre Washington, which helps theatres with audience development, administers the Helen Hayes Awards, and provided the above statistics, has started a fund-raising program to help. Actually, what they've done is an outgrowth of their Bucket Brigade, which began in 2012. Amy Austin, CEO of Theatre Washington, describes the Bucket Brigade's initial mission as a way to help freelance theatre workers in the event of a medical emergency. Stagehands at the Kennedy Center or actors at Arena Stage or Ford's Theatre, for example, belong to unions which already have emergency funds. But many theatres in the DC area employ non-union workers who do not have permanent positions. When a show closes, for many, paychecks stop. And these men and women often have not had the gig long enough to apply for unemployment insurance; absent their theatre paychecks, they must temp, find restaurant work, or drive for a car service until they book their next show. So if an emergency happens during a period without a gig, they have no back up plan familiar to year-round employees. (And now those temporary opportunities have dried up as well.) So each spring, after performances at theatres large and small, cast and company members have been asking departing audiences to contribute to the fund via the buckets. Obviously, that won't happen this spring.

So, Austin says that Theatre Washington has begun a Virtual Bucket Brigade instead. The organization has split the fund into two parts: one will still support theatre people with medical emergencies and the other will help stage managers and property masters and theatre educators get through the financial consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Austin set aside $100,000 from the existing fund which was then enhanced by $10,000 from the Revada Foundation and $5000. from other area donors. On March 19, the Virtual Bucket Brigade began with a goal of doubling itself. $36,000 has been contributed as of March 30.

Austin appreciates that the public has already provided 30% of the goal. Soon, Theatre Washington will host on-line performances as a thank you (watch this space for more information on that). Meanwhile, audience members and citizens in the DMV community who want to, as Hamlet said, "see the players well-bestowed," can make tax deductible contributions at theatreWashington.org. "There's no people like show people. . . let's go on with the show."